Eternal Love
by Oblivion Star Seeker
Summary: Being a single mother for seven years now, Lightning never thought she'd see the day that she would meet the father of her child once again. AU. Pairings inside. INDEFINITE HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN any of the characters used in this story. Except for the names of the children, I OWN THE CHILDREN! (Wow...that sounded...odd... :P)**

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Chapter 1

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Every single one of her dreams was mysterious, yet heart warming. A dark blue haired girl ran around a meadow filled with flowers and trees. She would run around for hours smiling until a man with the same hair colour as her walked into the field that made her stop dead in her tracks. She looked at the man suspiciously. He reminded her of something, maybe someone special to her. In the distance, she could hear someone calling her name.

"_Skye, wake up!_"

* * *

"Come on, Skye. You've got an hour to get ready for school." The woman said softly to her daughter. She brushed her fingers through her daughter's blue hair, but noticed her daughter did not move. The woman sighed and smiled mischievously.

She went over to the front of the bed and slipped her hands under the covers until she grasped her daughter's foot. The woman lightly brushed her fingers under the foot that made her daughter squirm and pull her leg back.

"Five more minutes..." She mumbled pulling the covers over her face. The woman sighed and ran her hand through her own pink hair.

"Skye, I know you're tired, but if you don't wake up now I'll get Aunt Serah to come over and give you a tickling session." At this her daughter climbed out of bed and went into the washroom to get ready. She mumbled an 'Okay' to her mother as the passed by. The woman chuckled and went over to fix her daughter's bed. She left the room and went into the kitchen just as the phone was ring. The woman picked it up and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Light!" _a high pitched voice sounded from the other line. Lightning knew the voice too well. _"It's Vanille."_

"I know that." Lightning muttered. "What's up?"

"_Just wanted to ask if you wanted me to pick up Skye and bring her to school along with Kyra."_ Vanille said. Vanille's daughter was very pretty just like her mother, but with strawberry blond hair. _"So, how about it?"_

"Ah, no it's alright. I've got a meeting right after so I'll drop her off on my way over to the office."

"_Oh okay. Just remember to stop by my house after your meeting! I know how stressed you get after you go to one." _Lightning could hear giggles on the other line which made her smile.

"Alright, see you later then." She replied and hung up. Just as she did so, her daughter came into the room, skipping happily and sat down by the counter.

"And what are you so happy about?" Lightning asked her as she handed her daughter a box of cereal from the cupboard above and a bowl. Skye merely smiled and shook her head as she poured the cereal into the bowl.

"I had a weird dream last night." She told her mother. "Almost like every other dream I've ever had." At this Lightning raised an eyebrow.

"What was it about?" She asked. Skye shrugged and dipped her spoon into the bowl as her mother poured the milk in for her.

"I don't know. It's kind of hard to describe, I think." She said. For a girl so young, she surely did know her choice of words, Lightning thought.

It had been seven years since she had given birth to Skye. The pregnancy was quite unexpected. Lightning knew who Skye's father was, though she never talked about it to anyone except for her closest and most trusted friends. Skye's father had the same hair colour as her daughter which came to the fact about people saying she and her daughter looked nothing like except for the facial structure.

Seven years ago, Lightning had her heart broken. The man whom she thought she loved and thought loved her back was the father of her child. Noctis Lucis Caelum. The day he had broken her heart was the day she was going to tell him the news of her new pregnancy, though she didn't have the right words to tell him after he broke her heart. She had been a single mother for these past seven years now and didn't mind having to take care of a child that she loved the most.

The fact was, Skye was her whole life right now. There were no struggles in the beginning and none at present. Taking care of her daughter was a new step for her in life. The fact that Skye would be living without a father, didn't bother Lightning at all, (seeing as he had left her in the first place), made her somewhat stronger for Skye and herself.

As Skye finished up her breakfast, Lightning was already getting her lunch ready for the day and for herself as well (though she was going to eat with Vanille after her meeting).

"All done?" Lightning asked. Skye nodded as she downed the last few drops in her glass of orange juice and hopped off the seat. She grabbed her backpack while Lightning handed her daughter her lunch bag.

"Mommy, am I going to Auntie Vanille's house after school?" She asked. Lightning shook her head and smiled as she bent down so she was head to head with her daughter.

"No, sweetie, I'll be picking you up after school." She answered and kissed her daughter's forehead. She stood back up and grabbed her car keys. "All set?"

Skye nodded and opened the door. Lightning followed behind her and closed the door. She unlocked the car and helped Skye get in.

"Morning, Lightning! Morning, Skye!" A voice called. Lightning turned around and waved to her neighbour who was about to go to work also. She knew this because she'd see him at exactly the same time she and her daughter went out of the house and off to school.

"Morning, Sazh!" She shouted back.

"Good morning, Mr. Sazh!" Skye shouted as she waved to him also. Lightning smiled and put the seat belt on her daughter. Soon after, she got into the car herself and started the engine.

* * *

"You excited for school today?" Lightning asked as they drove to Skye's school.

"It's going to be like every other day." Skye answered from the back seat. Lightning looked into the rear view mirror when she noticed a light bumping noise from the seat beside her. She saw that Skye was kicking the seat and making that small bumping sound.

"Don't do that." She said to which her daughter stopped immediately and looked as if nothing happened. Lightning grinned and kept her eyes on the road. When they arrived at the parking lot, Skye looked out the window and hopped up and down in her seat.

"Mommy, look!" She said pointing her finger at the window. "There's Auntie Fang and Vanille!"

Lightning pulled into one of the empty parking spaces as Skye undid her seatbelt and opened the door of the car. Fang noticed them come in and waved. Lightning waved back as she followed her daughter to where Fang and Vanille stood.

"Took you long enough. Vanille here was wondering if you got into an accident." Fang teased to which Vanille punched her cousin lightly on the shoulder.

"I did not! Lightning knows better than to engage someone into a car crash." She retorted. Vanille glanced at her daughter, Kyra, whom was talking with Skye and Fang's son, Zane.

"So, Light," Fang started. "How've you been? It's been two days since I haven't spoken to you."

"You only missed me for the weekend, Fang." Lightning said with a sigh. Fang laughed and patted her son's black, spiky hair who tried to get his mother to stop.

"Ack! Mom, stop!" He shouted. Fang grinned and fixed Zane's hair.

"Sorry, kiddo." She said just as the bell rang for all the students to come in.

"Alright, you kids have fun!" Vanille said as she hugged Kyra and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll see you after school, Skye." Lightning said and kissed her daughter on the forehead. Skye nodded and walked with Kyra to the front entrance.

"Be a good boy!" Fang yelled as Zane waved to his mother and went to catch up with the two girls.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?" Vanille said bringing her hands together.

"They're only seven years old, Vanille." Lightning said and looked at her watch. "Anyway, I have to go. Meeting starts in half an hour." She waved goodbye and walked off to her car.

"I've got to go too." Fang said after they both watched Lightning pull out of the parking lot.

"What? You said you were off today." Vanille whined.

"I lied." Fang answered with a light chuckle. "I'll see you later when Lightning comes."

"Fine." Vanille muttered. She waved her cousin a goodbye and started walking towards her car as well.

* * *

"Damn it." Lightning cursed as she dropped a few papers while on her way to the elevator of the office building. Just as she bent down she noticed someone with rather large hands pick up her papers and handed them to her. When Lightning looked up, her mouth turned into a frown.

"Snow, what are you doing here?" She asked darkly. Snow grinned and handed her the papers she dropped which she took back rather quickly.

"I believe the words are, 'Thank you, Mr. Villiers'." He said with a grin. "And I'm the new trainee here! Isn't that great?"

Lightning felt like banging her head against a wall. "First I have you as a brother-in-law, now I have to work with you?"

"Hey, hey." He explained, holding up his hands as a sign of innocence. "Just to let you know, it will only be for a couple of weeks. Then you're free without me. Unless I like it here, then I'll have the choice to permanently stay here."

"Please don't." She answered in a pleading tone. Snow laughed and clapped her on the back.

"Serah says 'Hi' by the way." He said as he walked alongside Lightning toward the elevator.

"Tell her I said hi back." She answered pushing the button to her office floor. "And ask her if she thinks that you're harassing her."

Snow laughed louder this time while Lightning only glared at him. What was with this guy and laughing so loudly? Thankfully they made it to her office floor not too long after. Lightning stepped out of the elevator rather quickly and almost ended up bumping into her boss, Yaag Rosch.

"Ms. Farron, I'd advise you to walk slower next time." Yaag stated as he fixed his silver hair that was tied up in a small ponytail.

Lightning sighed and mumbled, "Sorry, Rosch."

"I see you have met our trainee for a few weeks." He said as Snow walked out the elevator also. "Well Mr. Villiers. I'm sure that you'll have a wonderful time staying here and hopefully might even come here to work full time."

Lightning pleaded in her head that the day wouldn't come if Snow came to work full-time as her colleague.

"I might be considering that, Mr. Rosch," Snow said. "That way I could see my sister-in-law's smiling face every day." Lightning glared at Snow and swore that she would kill him after her day was over.

"Would you like to join our meeting that will happen in a few minutes?" Yaag asked Snow.

"Ah no, that won't be necessary, sir." Lightning started. "You see-!"

"I'd love to!" Snow beamed, much to Lightning's dismay.

"Well then if you follow Ms. Farron here, she will lead you to the Conference Room and then we'll start as soon as possible." Yaag informed them. Snow shook his hand and followed Lightning as they both made their way toward the Conference Room.

Lightning took a seat along the long table with Snow sitting directly in front of her. She re-organized the papers that had fallen before and placed them inside her folder. As all of her colleagues that were appointed to join the meeting took their seats, Yaag stood up and welcomed everyone into the room.

"Today, we'll be having a guest speaker." Yaag began. "Now I'm sure that all of you have heard of him before. Everyone, please welcome, Noctis Lucis Caelum!"

Lightning froze. Did she hear him right? She shot her head toward the entrance to the room where a tall yet handsome man came in. Sure enough, she knew it was him, the man who had broken her heart. He looked the same no doubt with his dark blue hair, and stunning blue eyes. She turned to look at Snow who was surprised also to seeing his sister-in-law's ex-boyfriend come in. He knew how Lightning was feeling right now.

Many thoughts were running through Lightning's head at that moment. The one thing that she wanted to do right now, was to get out of that place soon.

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**First fanfic! If there are any grammar mistakes, please feel free to tell me, that way I know in the future I won't make the same mistake.**

**Review please! (And please no flamers!)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Everyone clapped as Noctis came into the room. It was quite an honour for him to be at this meeting, since it would provide a new alliance of a sort with his company. He made it to the head of the table and held up a hand for everyone to stop.

"Before I begin," He announced. "I'd like to announce about my new engagement to a special woman of mine and will happen in about two months." Everyone clapped in congratulations. He smiled and nodded to each head until he stopped at a certain pink haired woman where he froze.

* * *

Lightning cringed at his words of his new engagement. How could he ask someone else to marry him? She could feel tears about to sting her eyes but took in a deep breath when Snow tapped her foot with his. Snow noticed she looked a little pale at Noctis' words but sent her a reassuring look. Lightning wanted to refrain from looking back at Noctis but seemed to jerk her head his way. That's when both of their eyes met.

She could not believe that he was getting married to another woman. She had thought that the reason he broke up with her had something to do with family issues, but hearing that he loved another person, ripped her heart in two. He had left her to care for a child all by herself for these past seven years and did not even bother to try and talk to her. If only she could stand up and leave the meeting just like that, all of her worries would go away.

Lightning felt like breaking down then and there, but tried her best to compose herself and not show her emotions. She stared into his eyes and shook her head slightly. Noctis seemed to get the message and tore his gaze from her.

He didn't even know that she would even be at this meeting! He needed to talk to her after the meeting. That was the only thing that ran through his mind at the very moment.

* * *

The meeting felt like it would last forever. Lightning could not pay attention to what Noctis was saying to everyone. She could only pick up a few words but other than that, paying attention to him at the moment was at the bottom of her to-do-list at the moment. Hearing his voice for the first time in five years made her somewhat uncomfortable to be in the same room. It had been already forty minutes into the meeting and Lightning felt like she was going to burst any minute now. She looked around the room to stare at something instead of having to listen to Noctis speak about...whatever he was talking about.

Snow looked at her every so often to see how she was holding up. So far he noticed she hadn't broken anything and knew she was trying to act professional instead of going nuts.

"Ms. Farron, would you do the honours?" Yaag's voice suddenly broke into her head. Lightning looked dumbfounded. What was he talking about?

"Uh...do the honours for what?" She asked hesitantly. Snow snickered at her statement which caused her to kick him under the table.

"Would you like to accompany Mr. Caelum here to his office after the meeting?" Yaag answered sternly.

Lightning glanced at Noctis who stared right back at her. She noticed him nod slightly, indicating to say yes to the offer. She knew her answer at the instant.

Looking away, she cleared her throat and calmly answered, "No thanks. I have some plans after the meeting is over."

"Well then. Marcus," Yaag said to one of the other colleagues. "You'll be accompanying Mr. Caelum to his office and report back when you're done."

Lightning sighed in relief. Looking back at the clock, she saw that there was twenty minutes left. She was in such a hurry to speak to Vanille after the meeting was over.

* * *

"Finally!" Lightning thought as everyone stood up from their seats. Lightning quickly gathered up all her things and made for the door when suddenly she heard someone calling her name.

"Lightning!" She knew the voice too well. Noctis nodded to everyone quickly as they sent him congrats and a job well done on the meeting and hurried his way toward her.

Lightning quickly grabbed Snow by the collar and whispered in his ear, "Distract him." Snow nodded and watched her go out the door before leaning casually against the wall, waiting for Noctis to pass by and somehow converse with him.

Noctis was getting closer and closer to her when suddenly something grabbed his arm and whirled him around.

"Noctis!" Snow exclaimed suddenly and patted his shoulder. "How've you been these past...seven years?"

Noctis cursed silently and forced a smile to Snow, whom he knew was Lightning's in-law.

"Great..." Noctis mumbled. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have to talk to someone, so if you don't mind. We could pick up this conversation sometime in the future."

Snow looked to the door and saw that Lightning was long gone. He nodded to Noctis and clapped him on the back.

"Sure thing. I'll see you around then!" Snow gave thumbs up and headed out the door.

* * *

"Laris, did you see the baking powder anywhere?" The red haired woman, Vanille, shouted from the kitchen. Her husband came bustling in with his blond hair sticking out at random ends.

"Why is your hair all messy?" Vanille asked placing her hands on her hips.

"I was fixing the TV. Normally I would be able to fix things in no time, but this one is a tough nut to crack!" He said grabbing a glass and filling it with water. "Anyway, what did you ask again?"

"I asked if you'd seen the baking powder." She said, opening the cupboard doors and looking through them once again.

"Did you check the cellar downstairs?" He suggested, downing the water from the glass.

"Why would it be in the cellar?" She asked heading toward the stairs leading to the basement. Vanille flicked the light switch which illuminated the whole room. Their house was fairly big with three bedrooms and three washrooms. Her family had no trouble getting used to the new house that they had moved into a few years ago. Vanille spotted one of the cupboards on one of the walls and opened it up, revealing many jars and cases of food items and ingredients.

"Ah hah!" She grabbed one of the jars and brought it back upstairs where her husband was currently trying to fix the broken TV, but failing quite miserably at.

"Did you find it?" Laris shouted from the living room.

"Yeah, but why did you put it in the cellar? It's cold down there." Vanille replied setting the baking powder on the counter.

"What are you making, anyway?" He asked, tapping at one of the wires in the TV.

"Oh you know, the usual...well actually I'm experimenting today and making a cake." She answered brightly. Laris shook his head and went back into the kitchen.

"Just make sure you've got the ingredients set this time. Remember what happened before?" He pointed to the ceiling where remnants of some kind of black substance lay stuck onto it. Vanille was about to answer back when the doorbell to the house rang twice. She went for the door and grinned at the person on the other side.

"Hey, Light." She said when she opened it and saw Lightning at the doorstep looking a bit worried. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just need to talk to you." She mumbled incoherently. She stepped in and placed her coat on one of the nearby chairs and followed Vanille into the kitchen where she started to prepare some coffee for the both of them.

"What's up?" Vanille asked handing Lightning a cup after a few minutes of silence.

Lightning was silent, trying to find the right words to describe what had happened. She still had that lovesick feeling in her stomach that tried holding her back from answering. But naturally she fought it back and said, "I saw him today."

"Saw who? Who did you see?"

"I saw...Noctis, at my meeting." Lightning said before breaking down into tears. Vanille found this unnatural for her to do cry since the last time she had seen her cry was so long ago.

* * *

"I'll see you tomorrow, Fang!" One of Fang's colleagues called as they passed by and waved. She nodded back as she headed for the elevator. Fang's work shift was over for the day and now she was headed to Vanille's place like they had planned in the morning.

Her job was enough to survive through, which was work in an office and attend occasional meetings like Lightning's job. She worked hard to get where she was today, in order to survive for herself and her son, Zane. She was very proud of her son. He had a gift, a special one to be exact. He would draw the most amazing and extraordinary pictures one would think an only an adult would draw. So much detail would be put into the drawings that her son drew. Though he was only seven years old, Fang was proud of her son whether or not he had the special gift or not. She considered hiring him a private tutor but decided out on the decision when she did not want his life to be so private.

After his father had died when Fang was barely three months into her pregnancy, she didn't know how to carry on in life after that moment. Truth was, he had proposed to her soon after she had told him about her pregnancy. She was overjoyed of course, but was filled with grief and misery when she found out that he had gotten into a car accident shortly after. The accident was a positive result that he would not be able to make it out alive. She promised herself not to speak his name to anyone who asked. Every time she would look at Zane, she would see his father's face in it and would think that she was lucky to have brought his son into the world.

Accidently, Fang bumped into someone coming out of the elevator which caused her to drop her papers onto the floor. She cursed silently and bent down to pick up her papers.

"Shit, sorry, Fang." The person apologized, Fang recognized him as one of the managers at the office. "I was on a coffee run."

"Don't the coffee couriers usually do those things?" She asked, gathering the papers and aligning them to be straight.

"Yeah, but today I lost a bet and got stuck to pay for the coffee." He answered handing her the rest of the papers.

Fang chuckled and stood up. "Well, I'll see you around then." She said and went into the direction she was headed until the man called for her again.

"Wait, Fang! You forgot this." He said handing her a piece of paper that had a drawn picture of a very detailed dragon. Underneath it was the name 'BAHAMUT'.

"Did you draw this?" The man asked curiously. Fang smiled and shook her head.

"No, my son did." She answered.

"Well your son's really talented then. How old is he?"

"Seven years old."

"Seven years?" He exclaimed rather loudly. "Wow, I can't even draw something like this even if I tried. He's like a child prodigy or something. His name's Zane, right?"

"I don't think of him as a prodigy, he's just a very talented boy; and yeah, that's his name."

"Isn't that something...?" The man mumbled. "Well, anyway, I'll see you around." Fang finally made it to the elevator and was ready to head to Vanille's house.

* * *

"So how've you been doing, Noct?" Marcus, one of Noctis' old friends (and also the employee whom was chosen to accompany him to his office building) asked. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has." Noctis replied quietly, focusing on the road. He hadn't stopped thinking about Lightning ever since he had seen her at the meeting. He almost regretted announcing his new engagement out loud after seeing her face since seven years.

"Noctis," Marcus suddenly asked. "You're spacing out. Something on your mind?"

Noctis sighed. "It's nothing."

"Hey, man, c'mon. We're old buds, we tell each other everything."

Noctis glanced at his old friend and sighed once more. "You work with Lightning, right?"

"You mean the Farron girl?" Marcus said. Just then, a thought dawned on him. "Hey she's that girl you went out with years ago, am I right?"

"Yeah..." Noctis muttered. "Yeah she's the one."

"What about her?"

Noctis took a deep breath. "How has she been lately?"

"Well, I guess she's been alright."

"You guess?" Noctis questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. I don't talk to her that much. She's just a person working in the same office with me."

"And here I thought you were 'The Lady's Man.'" Noctis joked.

Marcus grinned before saying, "Hey, I still am. But I'm not going to go out with someone one of my friends has already dated. Breaks a man's honour."

There was a long pause before Marcus said, "Congratulations on your engagement."

Noctis didn't say anything but only nodded. Stella Nox Fleuret, was his bride-to-be. He had asked her to marry him because of this feeling in his heart ever since they met that told him to. Now, Noctis questioned himself if he had made the right decision in marrying Stella.

"She's a cutie." Noctis heard Marcus say.

"Who are you talking about?" Noctis asked slowly.

"Huh? Oh, Lightning's daughter. _She's_ a cutie.

"_Lightning has a daughter? Since when_?" Noctis found himself thinking.

"Looks nothing like her though. She's got dark blue hair, kind of like yours." Marcus said. Noctis couldn't believe what he was hearing. "She's got a pretty name too, Skye."

"Who's the father?" Noctis blurted out the question. He was_ very _curious to know.

"Don't know." Marcus replied with a sigh. "Never said who he was. All she said was that he was someone whom she trusted but ended up breaking her heart. Never said a name, though."

"Is she married?"

Marcus raised an eyebrow and ran a hand through his dark hair. "No she's not. I don't think I've seen a ring on her finger before."

Noctis processed this information in his head. There could be a possibility that her child was his, but somehow the idea sounded absurd. If Lightning's daughter was his child, he would've known by now.

* * *

Fang rang the doorbell to Vanille's house a couple of times. "_Damn, that woman is slow!_" She thought.

When she arrived, she had noticed Lightning's car was in the drive way which meant that she had already arrived. After a few more doorbell rings, the door opened revealing Laris with dishevelled hair.

"What's up with your hair?" Fang asked narrowing her eyes.

"Been fixing the TV." He answered letting Fang in. "It's not as easy as it looks."

"Coming from the man who spent three years studying to become an electrician?" She joked, hanging up her jacket on the coat rack. "What did you do, kick the TV or something?"

"No!" Laris answered childishly. "I'm not _that _stupid to go ahead and break a TV like that."

Fang was about to answer back when she heard a small sob come from out of the blue. "What was that?"

Laris pointed to the kitchen. "They're in there."

Fang gave him a questioning look before going into the kitchen herself to see Lightning, sitting on the counter chair; her eyes a bit puffy and red with Vanille standing beside her.

"What happened here?" Fang asked. She looked at Lightning then to Vanille with curious eyes.

"I saw Noctis today." Lightning muttered which made Fang surprised and shocked at the same time. "He was at my meeting."

"What happened?"

Lightning took in a deep breath before continuing. "He was the guest speaker for today. And before starting the meeting, he...he said he was engaged to another person! The man who left me with Skye, is engaged to another woman!"

Fang's eyes were wide as she listened to Lightning's little rant. "But he doesn't know you've got a daughter, though."

"He's probably going to find out sooner or later." She said before breaking down into tears again. Vanille hugged Lightning as she cried.

Fang wanted to do something about it, but knew that she couldn't. Hearing about her story reminded Fang about Zane's father. Seeing the one you loved for the first time in seven years would make everyone uneasy. That was exactly how Lightning felt at the very moment.

* * *

**Meh...got kind of lazy at the end...as you can see Lightning had a small OOC moment. But you know, other than that , I hope you guys liked it. Oh wait, just to let you guys know, I'm not trying to overexaggerate about Fang's son having a gift. I'm just trying to make the story more unique to it.**

**Anyway, review please.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

It had been two days since Noctis appeared at the same meeting with Lightning. For some reason, he could not get over the fact that Lightning had a daughter and that there was a possibility that the child was his. After speaking with Marcus about it, his mind was filled with questions and answers that he wanted to know from her. But the problem was, he didn't know how to confront her.

He knew she hated him; the look in her eyes when they stared at each other was enough to tell him.

Noctis flipped through an old photo album from years ago when he stopped to stare at a specific one.

"_Laris took this one._" he thought with a grin. The picture was of him and Lightning from years before. They were both asleep with Noctis' back against a huge tree and Lightning's head propped against his chest. He remembered the flash of the camera waking the both of them up and Lightning pinning Laris down to the ground with him begging for mercy as she twisted his arm around his back. Memories like that made Noctis smile.

"What'cha doing?" A voice said from over his shoulder. Noctis closed the album immediately and turned around to face his fiancée.

"Stella, I didn't know you were going to be here." Noctis uttered trying to cover the book with his palm, which he was failing so badly at. Stella raised a brow and tried lifting Noctis' hand off the book.

"Noctis, can I see that?" Stella asked in a soft tone, referring to the album.

"See what? I don't know what you're talking about." Noctis answered rather quickly. Stella knew something was up. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Noctis, what are you trying to hide?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." He pushed the book so that it could fall into the garbage which he found was his biggest mistake.

Stella smirked and quickly ran over to the garbage fishing out the album. Noctis tried to get it away from her by attempting to grab her hands, though he underestimated her fast movements. Accidently he pushed her onto his bed and didn't expect for her to pull him along with her.

"What have we here?" she grinned slyly from underneath him; she held up the book in front of her face and opened it up. Noctis sighed and lay down beside her, watching as she flipped through the pages.

"Hm..." Stella mumbled. "These are just pictures of you and your friends. Hang on-what's this?" She pointed to the picture that Noctis had been previously looking at.

"Who is that?" she mentioned pointing to Lightning.

Noctis cleared his throat before answering, "She was my ex-girlfriend, from seven years ago."

"Huh...What's her name?" she asked feeling very curious at the moment.

"Er...Lightning." he muttered.

"That's an unusual name." She flipped through the rest of the book making slight comments at every photo that had a picture of him and Lightning.

"...I mean look at her hair!" Stella commented on one. "That hair colour doesn't seem natural. You deserved someone much better than her!"

"_I liked her hair..._" Noctis thought with a sigh. Noctis stood back up off the bed and took the album out of Stella's hands. He placed it back onto his desk and sat down in the chair. No matter how hard he tried, Lightning seemed to cross his mind every time he tried thinking of something else. Maybe he was looking for the wrong solution to his problems. Maybe banging his head on something would take his mind off her or--

"Noctis?"

Noctis jumped slightly, forgetting that Stella was still there. "Huh?"

"Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah." Noctis answered sheepishly. Stella sighed and stood up from his bed after a moment of silence.

"I should get going." she announced.

"Yeah, sure. I'll walk you downstairs." he muttered looking down at his feet.

He walked down the long flight of stairs with Stella in front. He stared into the back of her head with question. Sure Stella was pretty and caring but he wondered if asking her to marry him was the right decision. There had always been something missing in his life and Stella had been there to help him fill in the missing piece.

They had been friends for such a long time that he had grown used to her being around him without having that bubbly feeling inside when you like someone. It had only been a year since they started to get closer to each other. Their relationship sort of formed by itself. Noctis didn't expect for their relationship to form in that kind of way, but for what it was worth, he didlove her.

Noctis watched as Stella put on her coat and scarf.

"I'll see you later." she told him and went over to place a soft kiss on his lips. She waved goodbye as Noctis closed the door on her.

Now he was all alone in his rather large house. However, being alone had its advantages. It would be a time for him to relax and put all his worries away without anyone disturbing him, but since there was a one major thing in his mind at all times, forgetting about it was going to be quite a challenge unless he got his answers soon.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Noctis' head. Remembering that his old friend, Laris, was married, he knew that his wife, Vanille, was good friends with _her._ A grin spread across Noctis' face.

'_Maybe now would be a good time to visit an old friend.'_

* * *

8:56 a.m.

Lightning glanced at her watch as she stretched against the wooden columns in front of her house.

Once she had dropped off Skye at school, Lightning's usual routine was to jog first before doing some other chores on a day-off. A good half hour jog was enough for her to stay in shape.

Breathing in a lungful of fresh air, Lightning's legs worked to push her forward and into a fast, yet calm, jogging pace. Though usually she enjoyed her morning jog, today was different. For the past couple of days, Lightning felt like staying in bed and not getting up.

Nonetheless it was impossible, since she had a daughter to take care of.

Her daughter.

_Their _daughter.

Why was it that whenever she looked at Skye, she would see Noctis in there somewhere? Lightning shook the thought out of her head. The thought never really bothered her before, until now.

Many thoughts arose in Lightning's mind; she did not even notice that she had accidently bumped into someone and was now sitting on the floor.

"Oh, sorry!" a female voice said to her. The woman held out a hand to which Lightning grabbed hesitantly before pulling herself up. "I didn't see you there. Are you alright?"

Lightning nodded slowly and looked at the woman. She had long silky–by the looks of it—blonde hair and wore a white summer dress that came down just a little above her knees. Strange as it was, the woman had an odd shade of violet eyes. It didn't take too long for Lightning to notice a ring–that looked awfully familiar--on her left hand, probably meaning she was married or engaged.

The woman, however, looked Lightning up and down; sensing some familiarity by looking at her.

"Have we met before?" the woman asked narrowing her eyes.

"Er...no I don't think so," Lightning answered with uncertainty. An awkward silence was followed right after. Lightning could see that the woman was trying to figure out who she was.

"Well then," the woman finally said. "I guess I should get out of your way."

Lightning nodded and forced a smile. She put back her earphones and continued her run.

"_Who was that woman?" _Lightning thought. She didn't think that she met anyone who looked like her.

Suddenly a thought dawned into her that made her stop dead in her tracks. She _did, _however, hear of someone with those same characteristics from--

"_Noctis..."_

Damn it, why hadn't she thought of it earlier? She remembered him telling her about a close friend that he had since his early years. That woman _could _be the person he was talking about. It wasn't everyday you'd see someone with violet eyes. But the idea seemed too much of a coincidence.

Lightning shook the thought out and continued jogging. Thinking about it would be pointless and be a least to her worries.

* * *

**Short chapter, I know. But it took me a while to write because school has started again which means the next break won't be until March.**

**Anyway...**

**Review if you liked it! If not...then don't say anything XD (I dun like flamers :( )**

**Next chapter will be longer than this one, I promise.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

"Lightning."

"What?"

"Lightning."

"What?"

"Lightning -"

"What the hell do you want from me, Snow?!" Lightning yelled as she caught the third paper ball he had thrown at her head.

She looked up when she noticed that everyone in the office had gone silent. All of her co-workers were staring at her, wide-eyed at her sudden outburst.

"...Nothing." Snow admitted with a grin.

Just as he said it, Yaag passed by her desk and looked at Lightning.

"Ms. Farron, please be quiet when in the office," he scolded and turned to Snow. "I hope she isn't causing you too much trouble, Mr. Villiers."

Lightning's jaw dropped at the way Yaag was treating Snow. She wanted to tell him it was his fault he caused a scene but refrained from doing so. She sank into her chair and glared at Snow.

"Ah no, it's alright, Mr. Rosch," Snow answered. "I'm perfectly fine."

With that Yaag nodded and walked off.

Once he was out of earshot, Snow began to snicker but was cut off by Lightning throwing the paper ball at his face.

"Ow..." Snow muttered rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You know, I don't get why you weren't on any sports teams back in high school. You've got a really good throw, you know."

"First of all, it's been ten years since I've graduated and second is because I didn't care at all about those things back then."

"I remember Serah joined the cheerleading squad," Snow said with a grin.

Lightning groaned and covered her face with her hands.

Remembering those days when Serah was still in high school made Lightning scowl.

When Serah had joined her school's cheerleading squad, almost every day Lightning would have to listen to her little sister sing one of those cheesy cheerleading cheers. The worst part was that she had to watch Serah's choreographed dance and judge whether it was good or not.

"And who knows," Snow began, breaking into Lightning's thoughts. "Skye might even try out for it one day when she reaches high school."

Lightning could've sworn her right eye twitched.

"If that day ever comes, I'll be sure to ground her for life." she said darkly while glaring at Snow. Snow laughed and put his hands behind his head.

"Why are you here anyway? Can't you bother any of the other co-workers?" she asked.

"It's fun bothering you. Everyone else seems so boring to talk to," he replied with a sigh. "You're the only one who I talk to here anyway."

Lightning rolled her eyes and started typing on her computer. As much as she despised Snow at times, she couldn't help but grin at what he said. She shook the feeling off and continued her work.

It wasn't too long after when her phone started ringing. Lightning flipped it open and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"_You're coming to Vanille's house after work."_ a familiar female voice commanded.

Lightning sighed. "Fang -"

"_If you don't I will hunt you down with the spear that's been hanging on my wall. I know where you live, Lightning."_

"I know you know where I live," she muttered. "I don't get why you haven't taken that thing down yet. I wouldn't be surprised if you were secretly teaching Zane how to use it."

"_That _thing_ was passed onto my family for generations! And I wouldn't be surprised if you had a sword or something stored somewhere in your house." _

"Whatever," Lightning sighed. "Fine I'll come. Does Vanille even know?"

"_Yes, I'm at her house right now." _Fang said matter-of-factly and hung up right after.

"Who was that?" Snow asked, watching as she put her phone away.

"Fang." she replied and glanced at the clock.

11:43 a.m.

"Only a couple more hours then I'm out of here." she muttered.

"What was that -?" Snow asked while leaning back on his chair.

Unfortunately he had leant over too much causing the chair to fall backwards with him still on it; now he was lying against the ground with the chair pushed to a corner.

"Ow..."

"You're smart." Lightning smirked as she stood above him.

"Whatever just help me up!" he said through his gritted teeth as he saw one of the female co-workers pass by giggling.

"No way. I have to go photocopy something. Besides you're a big boy, you can get up by yourself!" With that Lightning walked right by him, kicking him in the face when he tried grabbing her foot.

"Ow, damn it!" Snow cursed holding his nose. If it was going to be bruised the next day, Snow was definitely going to do something to get even with her.

* * *

"This should be the place." The dark haired man murmured to himself as he read the sign above his head. Noctis ran a hand through his dark hair and stepped into the car shop.

Almost all the walls in the shop had car parts and tools on them. There were only a few cars in the shop at the moment, but nonetheless it had the same atmosphere in all car shops.

"Hey Noct!"

Noctis turned his head and grinned as he saw his friend, Laris coming up to him.

"How've ya' been lately?" Laris asked giving him a friendly hug.

"I've been better." Noctis answered with a grin. "You?"

"Same as ever!" he said running a hand through his blond hair. "What's up?"

"Actually, I just needed to ask you a question," Noctis admitted. "You know, face-to-face."

The blond nodded and leaned against the nearby counter. "Alright, spill."

"Could we go somewhere more private?"

Laris shrugged. "Sure, okay. If it's that important." He led him into a room with a sign on the door that read 'Employees Only'.

Noctis thought it would be one of those storage rooms where all the dangerous equipment was kept with some dirty patches here and there. To his surprise, it was actually the shop's employee room; the room itself looked big and pretty clean. Chairs were set around nearby tables while one big couch sat in front of a small TV screen; a small fridge and sink were set in the corner of the room.

"Good thing no one's in here," Noctis heard the blond say. Laris went over to the sink and turned the tap on to wash his hands. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Taking a breath in, Noctis began, "It's about your wife -"

"What? Why what's happened to her?" Laris nearly yelled.

"No no. It's nothing like that," he explained. Noctis didn't expect his friend to react in that way. "Vanille knows Lightning, right?"

"Er, yeah, why?" Laris questioned. He thought for a second and widened his eyes. "Oh no."

"What, I didn't even say anything yet -"

"Don't tell me you're going to use Vanille to get to Lightning." he exclaimed.

"Huh? I didn't even say anything of the sort -"

"She came by our place a few days ago."

"What?" Noctis exclaimed.

"Lightning, she came by our place a few days ago," he repeated. "From what I saw, I think she was crying..."

"Why?"

"Don't know. I got kicked out of the room. Vanille said something about 'girl talk' and that 'I didn't need to know what was going on' or something..." he muttered. "I did hear some words of the conversation though. Something about 'seeing _him_' at her meeting."

It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out who _he_ was. Noctis knew that he was talking about himself.

But why would Lightning worry over him? Noctis thought that she would have moved on and been with some other guy that would make her happy. Maybe that day we broke up had some kind of impact on her, he thought.

He desperately wanted to talk to Lightning now.

"Let me talk to Vanille," Noctis demanded only to have his friend shake his head.

"She's not going to tell you. She didn't even tell me when I asked."

Noctis thought for a moment. "Just let me at least try and persuade her to tell me."

Laris shrugged. "Alright fine," he gave in. "It's been a long time since you've visited anyway."

* * *

"Mister, why is ice so cold?"

The white haired man looked down and smiled at the dark haired girl.

"Well, if you think about it," the man started. "When the water is very, very cold, it freezes and becomes ice."

"Really?" asked Skye with wide eyes.

He chuckled and nodded. "Oh yeah, anyway, how's that bump on your head? Still hurt?"

"It still hurts..."

"Well, keep that pack of ice pressed on it, it'll take away the pain."

"Okay, mister."

"Mr. Estheim. Actually, no, just call me Hope," said Hope. "Hope Estheim, what's your name?"

"Skye!" she answered with a wide smile. "Like the sky in the sky but with an 'e' at the end!"

"Well, nice to meet you Skye, with an 'e' at the end." Skye giggled and pressed the ice once more on her forehead.

Hope patted the young girl's head but looked up when he saw a woman enter the office.

"I came as quickly as I could, is Skye here?" she asked the secretary.

She turned around and sighed in relief when she saw her daughter safe and sound.

"Hi, mommy," Skye said as her mother bent down to give her a hug.

Lightning hugged her daughter tightly but let go soon after to examine the small bruise on her head.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly. Skye nodded.

"I'm fine; Mr. Hope here brought me to the office to get some ice before school ended."

Hope blushed lightly. "Uh, actually it's just Hope. Hope Estheim. Your daughter seems to be fine despite the small bump on her head."

Lightning smiled and nodded her head towards him. "Lightning Farron," she said and held out her hand. "Thank you, I'm grateful for your help."

The white haired man smiled and shook the woman's hand. This woman was beautiful, he thought. She and her daughter did look the same despite the different hair colour they had.

Hope glanced at her left hand and noticed that there was no ring on the fourth finger. Was this woman divorced or widowed? He decided not to get his curiosity lead him to conclusions.

He stood up and politely said goodbye to the both of them before exiting the office.

"We're going to go to Vanille's house after this, alright?" Lightning said to her daughter as she held onto her hand.

"Okay."

* * *

"Hi, sweetie!" The red head cooed to her daughter once she came home. "How was school?"

"It was okay." Kyra answered and ran up to give her mother a hug.

Vanille smiled and helped her daughter take off her jacket.

Lightning closed the behind her and hung up her jacket.

"How was work?" asked Vanille.

"Snow was being more annoying than usual," she answered and followed her friend into the kitchen.

Fang sat at the counter flipping through the newspaper with a frustrated expression.

"The newspaper is so boring," she complained. "Who reads this junk anyway?"

"Apparently you do," Vanille said. "Like all of the other old people out there."

"I am not old!" Fang retorted. "Anyway, where's my son?"

"Mom! Look at what I drew today during class!" Zane came running into the kitchen with a piece of paper in his hands. He held it up for his mother to see.

"See? It's a picture of the spear that's been hanging in our living room for a while now." he said excitedly. "I can't wait when you'll teach me how to use one!"

Lightning shot Fang a mildly surprised look. Fang laughed nervously and said, "Mommy was just kidding about that, hun. It's too dangerous to teach you how to use a spear."

Zane pouted. "Aw...but it looks cool!"

"Yeah it does, but just stick to drawing. You're good at drawing anyway."

"Okay..."

Once Zane left the room, Lightning shook her head at Fang.

"Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if you were secretly teaching Zane how to use it."

"And I wouldn't be surprised if you had a sword somewhere in your house." The two of them continued to glare at each other until Vanille broke the silence.

"So! Who wants something to drink?"

* * *

"Well we're here." Laris told his friend as they both stepped out of his car.

"Nice place you got," said Noctis. He seemed to notice two cars parked at the front of his house, however.

Laris grinned and lead his friend to the front steps of the house. "It's nothing special, really. It's fine for all three of us in this house."

"How's your daughter been doing lately?"

"I love that girl to bits," he answered, getting out his keys and unlocking the door to the entrance to the house. "I'm home!"

Upon hearing her father shout from the hallway, Kyra ran downstairs and hugged her father.

"Hi, dad!" she said.

"Hey, kiddo," he answered and wrapped an arm around the little girl.

"Who's that?" she asked, referring to Noctis.

"He's a friend of mine who'll be joining us for dinner tonight."

Kyra nodded and let go. "Okay, I'll tell mommy to put in an extra plate."

"She's cute." Noctis grinned.

"One of the reasons why I love her to bits." Laris answered.

Noctis smiled at his friend. He wondered what it would be like to have a family of his own. He did want to meet his daughter, but his first task was to speak with Lightning when he met up with her again.

Noctis looked down and noticed a lot of shoes were piled up by the door.

"Do you have visitors?" he asked his friend. Laris gave him a questioning look but soon noticed what he was looking at.

"Oh crap..." he muttered under his breath and ran for the kitchen.

The dark haired man was dumbfounded. He hesitantly followed his friend through the hallway and into his kitchen.

_I didn't expect _her_ to be here_, Noctis thought. He locked eyes with a certain pink haired woman who was just as surprised as he was to see his sudden appearance.

* * *

**I'm not completely satisfied with the ending to this chapter. :(**

**I had a writer's block half way through so if you guys are wondering why it took like a month to update.**

**Well! I have a question for you guys!! Well three actually, :D**

**1) Do you guys want Fang to be paired up with someone? If so, who? I was thinking if I should put her with someone since everyone in this story is basically paired up with a character. I was thinking she should be paired up with the Scar-Faced Dude :D If not then tell me who you want her to be paired up with.**

**2) (This is a question just for fun) How old do you think Lightning is in this story? I know the answer, but I want to see if anyone can get it right based on a few clues so far in the story. If you manage to find out, state a reason why you think she's that age.**

**3) I am in need of a BETA!! Seriously, my vocabulary is very weak, grammatical skills and such. :P If anyone's interested, PM me!**

**Well, I think that should be it...**

**Thank you to Lexicer for pointing out some grammar errors in the last chapter and everyone else who reviewed! Everyone's feedback is greatly appreciated!**

**You know the drill! Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

"What the hell is he doing here?" Fang hissed at Laris once all three of them—Fang, Vanille, and Laris—had excused themselves from the awkward situation in the kitchen and into the hallway.

"I didn't know you guys were here!" he spat. He turned to his wife for some support but noticed that she had her ear pressed to the door. "Vanille, what are you doing?"

"Quiet! I think they're talking..." Vanille whispered.

Without a second to wait, Fang pushed Laris aside and pressed her own ear against the door.

Laris looked at the two women in disbelief. "Eavesdropping is bad, you know."

"Shut it, Laris," Fang muttered.

* * *

In the kitchen, Lightning and Noctis stood in an awkward silence, both of them avoiding each other's gaze.

Lightning had a feeling that he was preparing to say something, but she did _not_ want to hear it. Excuses and apologies were meaningless after all these years. "Why are you here?" she asked bitterly.

"I didn't expect you to be here," Noctis answered calmly. "But seeing as you are, I guess it makes the situation easier."

Lightning shook her head and stood up. "I have to go."

"Wait—don't!" He grabbed her wrist, but in an instant Lightning punched him hard in the stomach with her free hand. With a loud groan, he promptly released her wrist and fell to his knees.

"Don't touch me," she seethed. Lightning placed her hand on the doorknob of the door but paused when she heard rustles and whispered curses coming from the other side. With a sigh she opened it and glared at the trio.

All three of them glanced up at her, hands still cupped at their ears, in surprise.

"Uh…" Fang began intelligently.

Lightning simply rolled her eyes and looked at Vanille, her gaze softening. "Vanille, can you get Skye, please?" she asked, her voice barely audible. The redhead nodded hesitantly and ran up the stairs without taking a second glance.

Slowly standing up, Fang stared at Lightning with a concerned look. "Are you alright?"

Lightning took a moment before muttering, "I'm fine." She didn't care about Noctis anymore, but it seemed like he was trying to get something from her.

She looked up, when she noticed someone walking down the stairs, and tried to force a smile at the little girl, but couldn't.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" asked Skye when she saw her mother's strange expression.

Upon hearing the little girl's voice from the kitchen, Noctis looked up from his position and stared blankly at the little girl.

_Her hair...it's dark_, he thought. He quickly looked at Lightning. Was this Lightning's daughter, or perhaps _their _daughter?

"Nothing, we're just going to go home now, alright?" Lightning replied softly.

Skye nodded and was about to say goodbye to Vanille and the others, but suddenly noticed the stranger in the kitchen.

"Mommy who's that?" she asked, pointing to Noctis. The dark haired man seemed to notice this and looked to Lightning, waiting for her to say something.

Lightning did not know what to say. Would she tell her daughter the truth or lie and tell her that he was someone else? Although a part of her wanted to tell her that he was—is—her father, she knew that blurting out the truth in front of him would only make matters more awkward and complicated.

She took a breath and answered, "Don't worry about it. We should get going now." She turned to Vanille. "Thanks for, uh, having us over. I'll see you later." Without a second glance at her or Noctis, she and Skye walked out the door.

"Wait Light…" Noctis called, but his words were a mere whisper, barely loud enough to hear himself.

Noctis was confused; she was right there, but he had let her fall through his fingers once again. He needed answers, and yet, she was the only one who could answer them properly.

Laris walked over to his friend, whom was still on his knees staring at the ground. "Hey Noct..."

"Is she mine?"

The blond looked at him, confused. "What?"

"Lightning's daughter...am I the father?" asked Noctis sternly, finally standing up to look his friend in the eye.

"I..." Laris turned to look at his wife who walked over and placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

Vanille wanted to say something, to answer his question. But thankfully Fang stepped in and answered for her.

"It's not our place to say," Fang said, crossing her arms. "I'd recommend asking her, but clearly, she doesn't even want to look at you. Just leave her alone and go back to your _fiancée._" She spat the last word in contempt.

Noctis stood up. "I didn't think she'd be here," he muttered, shaking his head. "I was actually just going to ask _you_ something," he said to Vanille. "But I don't think it's that important anymore…" He fell silent before looking at all of them desperately. "Could you give her my number, at least? I just think that the both of us have a lot to talk about." He quickly scribbled his number on a scrap piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Vanille. "Tell her that I really need to speak with her."

"She probably won't even look at your number," Fang mumbled loud enough for Noctis to hear. He simply sighed in response.

"You never know. Maybe she will," he replied, turning his back on the three of them. "And you're right; I should go back to my fiancée, but until I get some answers from Lightning..." He shook his head as his words trailed off.

Without even saying goodbye, Noctis left the house, clueless as to where he was going to go next.

* * *

"Right then, today we're going to stuff ourselves with junk food and then go on as many rides as we can! How does that sound, Skye?"

The little girl smiled and nodded excitedly at her uncle. "Yeah!"

Snow grinned; he lifted Skye off the ground and set her on his shoulders. "Let's go!"

Not too far behind, two women with pink hair were following them. Lightning sighed as she watched Snow lead the little girl to one of the nearest rides. The other pink haired girl looked at her sister curiously.

"What's up, Light?" she asked.

Lightning's eyes snapped up and turned to look at her younger sister. "It's nothing Serah. Don't worry about it."

"Lightning, I'm not stupid. Something's up, and I want to know what's wrong," Serah declared.

"Serah, it's none of your business, so stop trying to interfere and just let it go!" Lightning suddenly spat. Serah winced at her sister's harsh words.

A long silence was followed right after. Serah hesitantly looked at her sister's eyes and swore she saw a look of worry, anger, and—to her surprise—fear.

This wasn't the first time Serah had seen her sister like this; the last time was almost seven years ago. Those were the darkest days.

Lightning was frustrated at that moment, but also scared; scared because it was like she was seeing _him_ everywhere. She got a strange feeling that he was trying to ask her something at Vanille's house, but she refused to listen.

But what bothered her most was that her thoughts kept drifting off towards him. She couldn't seem to get him out of her head.

Glancing back at Serah, Lightning saw that she looked deep in thought. To break the tension in the air, she said, "Uh, look Serah, sorry for snapping at you like that. It's just—I guess I'm just stressed, that's all."

Serah looked at her sister and sighed in relief. Grabbing her sister's hand, Serah pulled her along. "Come on, Light! We're so far behind the two of them. Let's hurry up!"

* * *

"You know what's odd?" said Lightning to her sister as they both sat at a table waiting for Skye and Snow to come back from one of the rides.

"What?"

"We come to Nautilus Park almost once a month."

"So?"

"Don't you and Snow have better things to do?"

Serah thought for a moment. "Well, Snow was the one who thought of coming here in the first place," she answered. "We were planning on spending some time with you and Skye soon anyway."

"But why?"

"I don't know," Serah mumbled. "I guess we just think it's fun with you guys. Plus since Skye doesn't have a father around…" At this Lightning looked down. "Snow wanted to have some fun and hang around with Skye when she needs someone like a father."

Lightning was lost for words. She didn't think that Snow would help her out in that sense with Skye. Maybe there were things she had to figure out before judging someone like Snow.

"That's...sweet, I guess," Lightning mumbled. Serah smiled at her older sister and turned her head when she noticed Snow and Skye coming back.

"What's up, ladies?" said Snow looking from one face to the other. "Are you okay, Light?" he questioned when he noticed that she was staring at the ground.

Lightning snapped her head up to look at him and simply answered, "I'm fine."

"Uncle Snow," said Skye tugging at his coat. "Can we go get some ice cream?"

Snow grinned at his niece. "Yeah sure! Let's go!" With that he dashed off with Skye to find an ice cream stand.

"Uh, Light?" Serah said.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't the ice cream stand right there…where it's always been?" Serah pointed toward the stand by a large fountain.

Lightning sighed. "Sometimes I wonder where that man's mind wanders off to..."

* * *

"Fang I want those damn papers in by tomorrow morning, do you understand?"

Fang clenched her hands into fists. "Yes, I do," she said through gritted teeth and stomped out of her manager's office.

"Honestly, that woman has serious issues!" Fang muttered to herself once outside. "I wish she'd just go die in a hole—ah!" She turned the next corner and was met with an unexpected surprise that made both her and the other person fall to the floor. Fang made a mental note to herself to actually look where she's going, _especially _if they were holding a box.

"Ow," she mumbled rubbing her head. "Sorry about tha—Rygdea?"

The man that had fallen down with her looked up and grinned. "Hey, Fang!"

"Oh god, sorry about that," she apologized and stood up. "I—how've ya' been?"

"The same, I guess," Rygdea answered. "You?"

"It's been a long morning," Fang replied sheepishly.

It was such an unexpected surprise to see her old friend once again. He was also her husband-to-be's best friend from all those years ago. Those two would've been friends for years and years; but all that had unfortunately changed when the terrible accident had happened.

Shaking the thought out of her head, Fang took the moment to get a better look at him. He looked the same. He still had his long, auburn hair, which was tied up; his eyes were that same colour of gray but seemed a bit darker from the last time she had seen him. Other than that, Rygdea had the same striking appeal.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" asked Fang, noticing that a long silence had fallen.

"To see you," he teased. Fang rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, just got transferred here to this office building. I was going to my new office when I happened to bump into you."

"That explains why I didn't see you because of that big box you were carrying," said Fang.

Rygdea chuckled as he bent down to gather his things into the box. "I should get going," he said. "Got a meeting in twenty minutes. I'll see you around, Fang." He waved goodbye and left.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Definitely."

* * *

_**Long wait...again, sorry guys! :( **_**_But then again it's all worth it, right? ...Okay maybe not._**

**_A BIG thank you to Lexicer for Beta-ing this chapter!! (After reading it over once more when it was edited, I realized my grammar is horrible!)_**

**_Rygdea appeared in this chapter (yay), isn't that great? What do you guys think? Will something happen between him and Fang?_**

**_Also, for those who guessed Lightning's age, she is 28 in this story. Reason? The clue from the previous chapter that she graduated from high school ten years ago (18 yrs old). That means that at 21 she had Skye seven years prior to the story. I used her age from the game as a starting point for her age in this story._**

**_Well, that's it for this chapter. You guys know the drill, review and stay tuned! :D_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Beta'd by Lexicer**

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

It was night time.

Skye lay in her bed watching as her mother shut the door behind her after saying good night and turning off the lights. Once again, going to Nautilus Park with her mother, aunt, and uncle had been fun.

The dark haired girl cuddled the teddy bear that her mother had given to her a few years ago. It reminded her that Lightning loved her, despite the fact that she didn't have a father around.

Skye yawned loudly before finally closing her eyes. _I wonder who my daddy is,_ she thought. _Zane doesn't have one either... _

Remembering the events that had occurred a few days ago, Sky still couldn't figure out what had happened that day at Vanille's house. When she saw the dark-haired man in the kitchen, it gave her an odd sense of déjà vu.

_That guy in the kitchen_, she remembered, _he looked a lot like the guy from my dreams_. And without another thought, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_What am I still doing here? _Noctis wondered as he looked over a piece of paper on his desk. He signed it and placed it on the pile of the other recently signed papers. He groaned loudly when he looked at the big stack of papers that still needed his signature. Luckily it was late at night and no one was in the office except for the secretary working down the hall.

"Maybe she heard me," he said to himself. "But honestly, what am I still doing here?" He absentmindedly banged his head against the desk before realizing that the minor act of masochism was rather loud.

Noctis heard the secretary walk down the hall and open the door to his private office.

"Sir, are you alright?" she asked, pushing a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. "It sounded like you were banging your head—"

"I'm fine," he answered smoothly, giving her a look that said get-the-hell-out. She apologized and quietly closed the door behind her.

Though he rarely glared at his employees, Noctis couldn't help but grin at what he did. He made a mental note to himself to use that look more often.

He glanced at his watch and groaned quietly. _It's 11:20, _he saw, resting his head on the table. _Stupid papers. Maybe I could take a small nap before calling it a night? _Noctis didn't realize how tired he was until he closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

It was only a couple minutes later when his cell phone vibrated urgently in his pocket. He cursed under his breath and pulled out his phone. Looking at the caller ID that said _Stella_, Noctis scowled and hesitated before flipping it open with a heavy sigh.

He cleared his throat before answering, "Hello?"

"Noctis!"Stella's high pitched voice rang from the other line. Noctis pinched the bridge of his nose; he could tell that she was angry. "You haven't called in days! What's wrong?"

He sighed and spun around in his big black chair so that he was facing the wall. "Stella, you _do _realize it's almost midnight, right?"

"I have not been able to sleep these past several nights because you haven't called! So I don't give a damn if it's almost midnight."

"Stella," he began in a softer tone, "go to sleep. You're obviously stressed right now. I'll call you in the morning, okay?"

"No! I will not go to sleep until you tell me why you haven't called!"she screeched into the phone.

Noctis couldn't take it any longer.

He muttered a quick "Good night" and snapped the phone shut.

Hearing Stella's constant whining voice every time he didn't call was starting to annoy him. Did he _really _want to marry someone like that?

And at that moment, Noctis realized that he regretted what he'd said to a certain pink-haired woman all those years ago.

He could perfectly picture himself marrying someone like Lightning. She meant a lot to him, even now. And the thought of her raising a daughter that looked so much like him brought warmth to his heart; it was very likely that the child was his.

But if he hadn't listened to that small, nagging voice in his mind that told him to end their relationship, he wouldn't be stuck in this mess.

* * *

_Sitting on a park bench by a lake, she patiently waited for the dark-haired man._

_He had called her there because he had something to tell her. She too had something she wanted to say, but she wanted to tell him the news face-to-face. Giving no hints as to what she wanted to tell him on the phone, she practically ran the whole way over._

_As Lightning watched the clouds slowly float by, she didn't notice the aforementioned man approach her until he gently tapped her on the shoulder._

_Lightning turned around and smiled at Noctis. _

_"Hey," he greeted. Lightning stood up and embraced him. Noctis wrapped his arms around her waist to return the hug, but gently pushed away a moment later. _

_Lightning's brow puckered. "What's wrong?" she asked, confusion drenching her voice. _

_Noctis tore his gaze away from her sky blue eyes. He was going to miss looking into them after what he was going to say._

_"Light, I...need to tell you something," he finally answered through a shaky resolve._

_The pink-haired woman crossed her arms. "I'm listening."_

_Noctis took a breath. "I don't want to do this...but I have to," he began. "These past few months were...some of the best days of my life. You're an amazing person but..." His words drifted off. When he placed a hand on her shoulder, Lightning knew what was coming. "I-I'm sorry." _

_Her vision clouded. The huge lake disappeared from her sight; it was as if she had been left alone in a dark room with the only source of light briskly walking away. Through shaky, ragged breaths, Lightning watched Noctis leave._

_"No..." she whispered. "No! Noctis!" Lightning started running but each step was fruitless; he just kept shrinking into the horizon until he was lost in a crowd of people. Stopping dead in her tracks, Lightning breathed hard, tears pooling at her ducts. Quietly, almost inaudible, she whispered, "I'm pregnant..."_

Lightning shot up with a gasp, awakening from her nightmarish past. Bringing a hand to her forehead, she noticed that she was sticky with sweat and breathing hard.

Glancing at the alarm clock by her bed, she was relieved that it was a Sunday and that she had slept in. She was going to have to wake up Skye soon. Struggling to get the bed sheets off of her, Lightning climbed out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, she noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

_Did I not sleep that well last night? _she wondered.

She turned on the water before stepping into the shower. Rinsing off the dirt from her skin, she felt better, as though the water was not only washing away the grime, but also her worries, if only for a moment.

* * *

"Why am _I _supposed to give Lightning the phone number..." the redhead mumbled to herself as she drove to Lightning's house. It had been a couple of days since Noctis had given Vanille his phone number and, like always, she was the one stuck with giving Lightning the important stuff.

Fang said that it built character.

Vanille, however, thought it was idiotic, and that her dark-haired cousin should be the one to do it.

"I ain't doing it if the task wasn't officially directed at me,"she had said to Vanille before harking goodnight and quickly leaving with Zane.

Vanille sighed and parked in Lightning's driveway. Shuffling through her bag, she double-checked that the piece of paper was in there and finally stepped out of her car. Mentally preparing herself, Vanille walked up the stairs to the front porch and rang the doorbell.

"Why couldn't Fang at least come along?" Vanille complained as she waited for someone to open the door. "It's a Sunday, for goodness sake! Why did she have to decide to go to work today—Hey, Lightning!"

Lightning blinked. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Actually," Vanille began, opening her purse to get out the piece of paper. "It's more of something I have to do for you. I'm here to deliver something."

* * *

"So what are you going to do, Lightning?"

Lightning had her back to Vanille and was leaning against the kitchen counter as she stared at the piece of paper, her mind in turmoil. _What does this mean?_ Lightning wondered.

Vanille was getting a little worried because her friend looked—from what she thought—shocked and frustrated.

"Light—"

"Why?" Lightning interrupted in a stern voice.

The redhead was confused. "What?"

She turned around. "Why does he want to talk to me?"

Vanille looked down, desperately trying to think of a believable answer. She eventually said, "I...I guess he just wants to straighten things out?"

Lightning scoffed. "It's been seven years, Vanille. After what I had to go through, he just decides to talk to me and 'straighten things out'?"

"It was just a suggestion—"

"He should have done that years ago!" Lightning shouted in frustration. "It's his fault for leaving me in the first place!" Vanille looked up to see Lightning sit down on the couch opposite from where she sat. Her head hung low, the note balled up in her fist.

"Lightning," Vanille began softly. "Just...give him another chance," Lightning glared at her but Vanille wasn't done speaking. "Look at you. You need someone by your side for the rest of your life. You and...Noctis," she said his name hesitantly. "You two were meant for each other."

"Even so, he's getting married; I won't get in the way of his new life," Lightning retorted, crossing her arms.

"Light, call him. Give him a second chance," Vanille continued.

Lightning looked at her a second longer and sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. But only 'cause you told me to."

Vanille was secretly jumping for joy. She had a feeling the Lightning and Noctis could work things out sooner or later.

* * *

Fang couldn't concentrate on her work. She had a strange feeling that someone was eyeing her every movement. Thinking back to earlier that morning, she remembered welcoming a new employee but was utterly disgusted a second later when he made a comment that made her _very_ uncomfortable.

Shuddering at the thought, Fang leaned her head on her hands and tried to think of something else.

"Something wrong?" asked a familiar voice from behind her.

She turned around in her seat and smiled. "It's nothing you need to be concerned about."

Rygdea grinned and handed her a cup of coffee. "I stopped by the café before leaving for work this morning. I just thought you'd like something."

Fang muttered thanks before taking a sip from the drink in her hands. She glanced at the employee she had spoken to earlier that morning and saw him shooting death glares at Rygdea.

"So what happened before I got here?" he asked, leaning casually against her desk. Fang shrugged innocently, but Rygdea saw right through her lie. "I can read you like a book. Something happened. Come on, tell me."

"Well," she began, keeping her voice low, "y'see that guy over there?" She nodded her head toward the perverse employee. "He's been giving me...dirty looks, I guess you could say, since he got here."

"Looks like someone's taken an interest in you," Rygdea joked, but Fang punched him the shoulder. "Ow! I'm kidding," he said, rubbing his shoulder. "But I get your point. Do you want me to say something?"

"No!" Fang whispered quickly. "This isn't like high school where you can tell off someone who's eyeing your best friend's girl."

"Ah, but this isn't like that," he replied. "Because my best friend isn't here anymore—" But the instant he said it, he wished he could have taken it back. Fang looked away, trying to hide her pain, and stared back at the papers sprawled all over her desk.

"Er, Fang sorry about that," he apologized instantly. "It just slipped out of my mouth."

Fang ignored him. It was hard for her to accept an apology whenever someone mentioned him so easily. But she knew she needed to stop being so sensitive.

"Fang, I—"

"Hey, man. I think you should get the message," a deep voice said from behind her. Fang turned around and stared at the aforementioned employee. "If the lady doesn't wanna talk, then you should back off. Ain't that right, hun?" He looked straight at Fang and winked. The black-haired woman scowled in disgust.

"I think _you_ should back off, man," Rygdea spat. "Don't you know not to butt into other people's conversations?"

Fang wanted to break up the situation; she didn't feel like causing a scene because of this. "Rygdea don't. It's okay—"

"Yeah, _Rygdea,_" the man chimed in. "It's okay. Just run along and get on with your life. She's too good for you anyway."

Rygdea was infuriated. That was the last straw. The man had just plucked an angry string inside of him. "_That's it_!"

Without a second to waste, Rygdea punched the man square in the face that sent him falling to the floor; blood gushed from the man's pulpy nose. Fang's eyes widened as she sprang up to calm both men. But even after that, Jihl Nabaat, the head of the office building came from nowhere to observe what had happened.

"That's enough!" she yelled at the two men. "I want to see _both _of you in my office now."

* * *

The rest of the day seemed to pass by slowly. Fang certainly could not focus on work; her mind kept wandering to the event that had happened earlier in the day. Once work was over, she walked straight to Rygdea's office, hoping to find him in there.

She opened the door and felt her heart sink in happiness. He was sitting there in a big black chair, his hands covering his face.

"Hey," she said softly, closing the door behind her.

Rygdea looked up and smiled slightly. "Hey, Fang."

"What happened in Nabaat's office?"

He looked down at his desk. "We talked about what had happened. The both of us told our side of the story and I guess my story was more believable because he mentioned something about you having a nice...arse." Fang blushed furiously. "He got fired and I get to keep my job."

"Good thing he was, even if it was his first day here," she replied with a smile.

Rygdea smirked slightly. "Listen Fang, about what I said earlier…I take it back. I didn't mean to say that about...you know. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I'm over it," she said.

"You know what? To make up for it," he began, standing up from his desk, "how about I take you out for dinner tonight?"

Fang smiled. "You know, I'd like that but I have to go home tonight. Lebreau's been looking after my son the whole day today. It's only fair that she gets home early. How about next Friday? I'm off then."

"Fine with me," he said and winked as he exited the room.

* * *

The pink haired woman grasped the phone in her hand.

She didn't want to dial the number because she had _no _idea what to say.

_Damn it, why can't I do this? _she thought. _All I have to do is dial the number..._ Lightning groaned in frustration. "I should just get it over with already..."

Hesitantly she dialled the number and pressed the call button. Holding it up to her ear, she took steady breaths and waited for someone to pick up the phone.

Then she heard it.

"Hello?" a deep, familiar voice answered. Lightning could've sworn her breath hitched in her throat.

Taking in a breath, Lightning replied, "Hey Noctis? I-It's Lightning."

* * *

_**Chapter 6 guys! Things are actually taking a turn, eh? Cliffhanger at the end (harhar), aren't I nice? I'll leave you all to wait for another month...maybe more for the next chapter...yes, I'm that evil. :D **_

**_I'm kidding, but this was a fast update right? Also, a big, humongous, ...ginormous (That's not a word by the way people!! 'Tis a mix of two words: Gigantic and Enormous) THANK-YOU to Lexicer for betaing this chapter. Seriously, she does some serious work, guys! (She's got some awesome editting powers!)_**

**_Oh gosh, Fang and Rygdea had a big part in this chapter!! I think I'm totally falling for zat couple...even though I go for Cid and Fang....RAWR._**

**_Random moment right there O_O_**

**_Anyway, stay tuned and review this chapter! Tell meh what you think! :D_**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

When Lightning had called, Noctis was completely surprised. He didn't think she would actually call. And like Fang said, he didn't think she would have taken the time to even glance at his phone number. He knew he had hurt her badly; after all, he was immensely hurt afterwards as well.

Noctis was driving his car down the road on a beautiful morning. Lightning had asked if he would like to have a coffee by the nearest café—much to his surprise—so they could speak one-on-one. Noctis had accepted her invitation and was now on his way over there.

As he came to a stop sign, his phone started ringing. The dark-haired man picked it up hoping that it was not his fiancée again.

Fortunately it wasn't.

He flipped it open and spoke. "Hello?"

"Hey, Noct," Marcus' familiar voice sounded. "What's going on?"

Noctis was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Laris told me everything. You're going to meet up with the Farron girl today?"

He sighed. "Yes, I am. Is there a problem?"

There was a slight pause before Marcus responded, "Well...no. I just wanted to ask if you could give me the details about it later."

"Why should I?"

"Because Laris said you were going to tell him about it later. It's only fair that_ I _get to know too."

"No," Noctis answered simply.

"_Why not_?" Marcus whined through the phone.

Noctis laughed. "Fine, fine. We're meeting up at your place then. Tell Laris that."

"Sure thing." And with that he hung up.

Grinning, Noctis closed his phone and turned his attention back to the road.

* * *

God, she felt like sleeping. But she knew that it was fruitless to think about it because someone would surely wake her up only minutes later.

Lightning was sitting by herself at a table, her head propped up by her elbows as she looked out the large café window, anxiously waiting for Noctis' arrival. He was hardly ever late…or maybe she was just early. Luckily, her daughter was at school at the moment and wouldn't have to officially meet her father just yet. Obviously, they were going to have to meet eventually; she knew that. But she felt bad for keeping such a secret from her daughter all these years, and Noctis, for that matter.

_But it was his fault for leaving me_, she thought, but soon shook the bitterness out of her head. All of that happened in the past. Those events would never happen to her again, and she knew it. But why was it that whenever she would think about him, she still felt that same heart-warming sensation at the pit of her stomach from when they were still together? _I know I don't still have feelings_…

Looking up from the spot she had been staring at, she noticed a familiar silver-haired man walk into the coffee shop who was now waiting in the line-up to the cash register. It was the same man who helped her daughter with her small injury in the head. He looked as if he was going somewhere rather important for he wore a black suit with a dress shirt and a blue tie.

Lightning looked back up at him and saw that he was already paying for his coffee and just about to turn towards the door until he spotted her. A wide grin spread across his face and he walked over to her table.

"Hey, Miss Farron," he said once he reached her table. "Nice to see you again."

Lightning grinned slightly. "Likewise, Mr. Estheim," she replied.

"Ah, please, just call me Hope," he said modestly.

She nodded and looked back at his attire. Hope merely grinned before he said, "Uh, so are you waiting for someone? I wouldn't want to intrude or anything…"

"Oh no, it's fine," she explained. "The, er, person I'm supposed to meet with isn't here yet. I think it's because I came early. You can stay if you'd like, unless you have somewhere more important to go to..." She motioned toward his suit.

"Oh this?" said Hope looking down at his clothing. "I just have a job interview later on, it's nothing big. I still have about an hour until." He looked back up and smiled.

Trying to think of something to start up a conversation, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Uh, so how's your daughter, Skye?"

* * *

The dark-haired man let out a huge sigh as he parked his car by the curb near the café Lightning had asked for them to meet up at. Glancing out the window of his car, he could see Lightning sitting by herself at the table. She seemed to be talking to someone; Noctis followed the direction she was looking and saw a tall man with silver-white hair wearing a black suit.

Noctis could see the two talking and laughing through the large window of the café. He was glaring daggers at the stranger as he walked in. Lightning still hadn't noticed him and laughed at something the man had said.

Taking a breath, Noctis marched over to her table. Still smiling, Lightning looked over towards his direction; her smile disappeared into a slight frown. Hope noticed her change of expression and followed her gaze to the man who was currently standing behind him, looking at him strangely.

The two men stared at each other for a long while, one glaring and the other looking slightly afraid.

"Um…" Hope started but was interrupted by Lightning clearing her throat; both men looked at her.

"I think I should probably go," said Hope, giving Lightning a nervous look. "I see that you have another engagement right now..." He nodded at her and bid her farewell; he then glanced back at Noctis before ushering himself out the door.

Noctis watched him go out the café before turning back to a now somewhat pissed Lightning; but Noctis seemed unaware of it. "Who was that?"

"Just a friend," she replied. "Look Noct, we're here to discuss some matters that we need to get over with. So can we _please _just stick to the subject?"

He felt something strange inside when she said his name. Only people who were—are—close to him would call him by his nickname. "You're right, sorry," he apologized and sat down in the empty seat across from her.

"Well first things first," Noctis began. "Your daughter...who's her—"

"Listen can we take a walk outside?" she interrupted, acting as if she completely ignored his question. Noctis uttered something incoherent but soon nodded at her request standing up as he said so.

* * *

"So yeah," said Noctis. "about the question I asked earlier...?"

They were crossing the lane as they went toward a big park. Cars stopped behind the crosswalk as they walked.

"Sorry could you repeat that?" asked Lightning. They were now walking into a park with a huge lake by the edge. It all seemed quite familiar to the two but they couldn't seem to get a grasp of why it was.

Noctis cleared his throat. "Your daughter..." he started softly, "…I was just curious to know...who's her father?"

Lightning's breath hitched in her throat once more. She knew that she shouldn't have been so surprised since she'd heard him the first time. But somehow, hearing it out loud made it all the more real. "Uh, well I could've sworn you might have figured out at least that much by now." She stopped dead in her tracks. "I…you're her father...Noctis."

Noctis smiled slightly, but she didn't return it back. He finally got the answer he had wanted to hear these past few weeks.

Lightning took in a breath. "Why did you leave me, Noct?" she asked.

_Oh shit,_ he thought. Noctis didn't know how to answer that. He didn't know why he left her. Looking away, he glanced at the scenery behind him. A huge, yet beautiful lake was the main attraction to this park. There were families playing in the water on this warm day. "This place..."

Noctis had the urge to walk over there but was suddenly hit in the arm by something hard.

"Noctis!"

He turned back to look at her, noticing that her hand was clenched into a fist. She looked frustrated and irritated at him.

Noctis sighed. "Look Light—" He stopped midsentence at the face she was making at him but continued on, "I-I don't know."

He knew that was the wrong thing to tell her for she crossed her arms and turned her back on him, obviously hurt. "But wait a minute," he started again. "I'm not at fault here –"

"How is any of this _my _fault?!" she snapped, pivoting around to face him once more. "It's _your _fault we're even stuck in this mess!"

"Lightning, I didn't mean it like that—"

"It's _your _fault that I had to raise a child by myself because you had no reason why you broke us up and just decided to end it!"

"Then why didn't you call or tell me you were pregnant?!"

"I was going to!" she yelled. Luckily no one seemed to hear her sudden outburst except for the man standing in front of her who, at that moment, was stunned.

Tears edged at the brim of her eyes now. "I was going to tell you on that day. That very day when my whole world came crashing down on me," She wiped her tears away with the back of her sleeve. "But I couldn't get myself to tell you after you left. I just couldn't..."

Noctis now felt horrible inside. "Lightning..."

But she ignored him. "I thought that we actually had something for each other," She turned around, her back facing him. "But it was just a stupid fantasy that I knew would never come true." Lightning lifted her head up. "And none of it matters anymore. You've obviously moved on with your life, and I couldn't care less..." She started walking away from him, pain and guilt churning in the pit of her stomach.

Noctis watched her retreating figure. He cursed and punched the tree beside him before realization struck him.

Lightning stopped to turn around and take one more glance at him; Noctis looked back at her too.

That last statement was a lie and she knew it. And it was then, in that moment that the both of them figured out how they truly felt for each other. That the two of them still loved one another, without the other person even knowing it.

* * *

Why doesn't the stupid BOLD print not work when I'm trying to write an author's note.... -__-

_**Well there we go...it's in italics though.. **_

**_Moving on; this is a short chapter. Sorry guys. But I had fun writing this chapter! :D Things are starting to spice up between Lightning and Noct, eh?_**

**_THANKS TO LEXICER FOR BETA-ING THIS CHAPTER!!! _**

**_And to everyone who reviewed, I give thanks. :)_**

**_Next chapter might be longer than this one, I'm not sure yet. :P_**

**_Anyhoo, review if you liked. No flames though pleeeeaaase ;]_**

* * *

**_Edit 04/30/2010: Just had to use the line thingies to divide the parts in the chapter(s) because for some reason, and I happened to notice this, the colon things that I use to divide the Point of Views of the characters didn't seem to show up. Anyway, just thought I'd let you readers know so you wouldn't get confused. :)_**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

* * *

"Hey Noctis! Now's not the time to be napping!"

"Leave the guy alone, Marcus," said Laris.

"But the game is on! He was to watch his daily dose of sports entertainment," Marcus replied tautly, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at the television.

Noctis sat beside him, head resting on his elbows that were propped up by his legs with his eyes closed. He wasn't asleep like what Marcus inferred that he was, but rather listening to their conversation.

"Daily dose?" Laris questioned Marcus. "The game isn't even on every day, moron."

"Okay, so what? He shouldn't be hung over his ex who doesn't even like him anymore." Marcus reached for a bowl of chips in front of him that lay on top of his coffee table. "Noct even said, she was with someone already. That, uh, white-haired guy? There's almost no chance he's gonna get her back."

"I never said she was _seeing _the guy," Noctis suddenly snapped; Laris jumped at his reaction and almost knocked over a beer bottle on the coffee table. Marcus looked at his dark haired friend, unaffected by his friend's sudden outburst. "And how do you know I won't, Marcus?"

"Sheesh, calm down, buddy," Marcus muttered and then gave him a look. "But here's a reason," he started. "You're _engaged _to someone, Noct. Stella. And Lightning already knows you're engaged."

Noctis cursed in his head that he pointed out the obvious. "I didn't forget that," Noctis mumbled. "But I regret what I did to Lightning...and Stella. I'm such an idiot."

"I agree, you are an idiot," Marcus agreed but earned a slap in the back of the head by Laris. "Ow! What was that for?"

Laris ignored his complaint and turned to Noctis. "Just do what you gotta do, Noct. We got your back, right, Marc?"

Marcus rubbed the back of his head and grumbled profanities to himself. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," he muttered before exclaiming "Now enough with this pep talk! Let's watch the game already!"

"Hold up a minute," Laris interrupted. He looked to his side and picked up a picture frame. "Marcus, who is this?"

Noctis peered at it and smirked. "Looks like Marcus has a girlfriend."

"N-No! She's just a friend," Marcus stammered turning pink. "Where did you find that?" He stood up and snatched the picture frame his blond friend, holding it protectively.

"She's _clearly _not 'just a friend'." Noctis folded his arms across his chest. "You have your arm around her waist. What's her name?"

"Who wants more beer?" Marcus asked suddenly, ignoring his friend and dashing into the kitchen. The two men looked at each other and started grinning until the sound of dishes falling from the kitchen made them laugh.

"He has a girlfriend," Noctis concluded, propping his feet up on the table.

"Agreed," Laris sighed. "If he's too chicken to tell the truth, I wonder what he'll say if he decides to marry her."

"Thanks for coming on such a short notice, Lebreau," Fang said out of breath. "I forgot to call you earlier this week about some plans I had arranged last week."

"Don't worry, I like looking after the little guy," said Lebreau, stepping into the house and turned back to look at her. "You look like a mess. Do you need any help getting ready?"

"If I did I'd have to pay you extra for giving me special service," said Fang. "and I really don't want to."

Lebreau laughed. "All right, I get it." She held up her hands in defence and peered around the woman in front of her. "Where is the little guy anyway?"

"Probably out in the back. He's been spending a lot of time back there with his sketchbook," the raven-haired explained. "Go ahead and find him if you want, you can entertain him somehow while I get ready. I need him to stay out of the tree we have in the back."

"Looks like something must've caught his eye if he's back there with his sketchbook," Lebreau pointed out, setting her jacket on a nearby coat rack. "You haven't been teaching him how to climb trees, have you?"

Fang sighed in exasperation as she led Lebreau down the hall. "Why does everyone think I teach my son these things?"

She led the other woman out into the backyard where Fang's son, Zane, on the ground, looking up at a big tree entranced by something. He held his sketchbook on one hand and a pencil in the other.

"Zane, Lebreau is here!" his mother called. Zane turned to look at her and a huge smiled spread across his face. He dropped his tools and ran up to said woman and give her a hug.

"Hey, kiddo," Lebreau laughed as Zane wrapped his arms around her legs. In height, his head reached just above her waist. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Zane beamed pulling away. "Are you going to be looking after me tonight?"

"You bet," she answered. "I made sure I came extra early." _Even though Fang called me just a few hours ago, _she added silently in her head.

He nodded and turned to his mother. "Ma, come here! I want to show you something." Without warning, he grabbed his mother's hand and led her to the big tree. Fang almost tripped over her own feet as she tried to regain her balance from the little boy's tug. "Look up there!" He pointed up at the tree. She could faintly see a small nest with two white eggs protruding from inside it. "Do you see it?"

"I do," Fang muttered, squinting her eyes a little.

"Look, I'm trying to draw it too!" Zane ran back to pick up his sketchpad, flipping to the page he had been drawing on and showed it to his mother. No doubt, he had drawn a close-up picture of a tree branch that had the bird's nest sitting on top of it. Looking at the drawing made Fang smile at her son's accomplishment.

"This is really good, Zane," she said, handing the sketchpad to Lebreau for her to see.

"It is," Lebreau agreed. Zane took the sketchpad back from Lebreau and smiled widely. "Is it finished?"

"Uh huh." Zane nodded excitedly and ran back to pick up his pencils. "Mom, what time are you coming home tonight?"

"Late," she answered simply. "Lebreau is gonna be here 'til I get back. I'll be expecting you to be in bed when I do." She shot a look at Lebreau who understood what she meant. "Anyway, I should be getting ready now. Don't climb that tree, alright Zane?"

"Yeah, yeah," he murmured walking past her and going back into the house. The two women followed him seconds later into the house.

* * *

Lightning folded her arms across her chest, watching as her daughter ran happily ahead of herself. She had walked with Skye to the nearby park a few blocks down and were now headed back home. It had been a long day for Lightning –not to mention that her annoying brother-in-law decided to accept the full-time job offer Rosch had offered him. She would have to see him every day at work now...

Skye suddenly stopped ahead of her, looking up at the now sun setting sky. Lightning, with concern, made her way over. "What's wrong?"

"Look, a rainbow!" The little girl pointed a finger upward. Lightning followed her gaze and, no doubt, a full rainbow appeared in the sky. _That's odd_, Lightning thought. _A rainbow at this time of day? _

"It's pretty..." the older woman heard Skye mutter. Looking back at her, she saw a smile dawn upon the little girl's face. Lightning always liked her smile; it made her feel happy inside. Also because she thought it looked cute, but never said anything about it. She feared that people would mistake her of her personality.

Soon noticing that it was beginning to get dark, Lightning took her daughter's hand and started walking again. "Let's go, the sun's going to set soon," she said. Skye held onto her mother's hand, taking one more step to follow her mother's stride.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Skye asked once they arrived home. It was a Friday and so far, Lightning had no plans for the weekend.

"Hm...I'm not sure. Where do you want to go?" Lightning looked down at her.

"Let's go to Nautilus Park!" Skye beamed, her blue eyes sparkling.

The older woman chuckled. "Again?"

"Yeah!"

"Are you sure you wouldn't want to go somewhere else?"

Skye brought a finger to her chin, thinking. "Mm...Can we go visit Auntie Serah and Uncle Snow?"

Lightning stiffened at her question. It was bad enough she had to see the blond every day at work for the rest of her career, but then seeing him on one of the two days she had off? _Then again, it'd be nice to see Serah, _Lightning thought.

She looked down at her daughter once more and said, "Alright, we'll go visit them."

"Yay," Skye chimed happily. "Thank you, Mommy. I love you!"

"I love you too, Skye," Lightning responded softly as her daughter hugged her by the waist and ran off into her room.

The more time she spent with her daughter, Lightning wouldn't think of her conflict she still had with Noctis. And after figuring out she still felt something for him, she would push the thought to the back of her mind. Lightning didn't want it to get in between her life with her daughter.

But it had been a week since their last meeting and Lightning occasionally wonder if he felt something for her? _That's nonsense, why would he, _she thought. _He's getting married..._

The pink-haired woman let out a sigh as she went into her kitchen. All the while still thinking about one thing: Did Noctis still love her?

* * *

"Well, well, aren't we looking pretty?" Lebreau assessed as Fang walked into the room. The raven-haired woman spun in a circle playfully, showing off her blue wrap dress that fit her perfectly; but her hair remained the same in its messy form. "When did you get that?" Lebreau asked.

"A few weeks ago," she answered with a grin. Fang couldn't help but smile proudly as she looked at herself through a mirror in the hallway.

Lebreau noticed this and rolled her eyes. "Stop obsessing, already." Just then, the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs made both women turn around. Zane looked at his mother and smiled.

"You look pretty, Ma," he said, walking up to her. Fang, absolutely touched by this, bent down and squeezed the life out of him in a hug. "Ah, Mom! Too tight!" He managed to free himself from the older woman's grasp and ran off.

"Since when do you act this happy, Fang?" said Lebreau. "You're not having any mood swings or something, are you?"

"No, of course not," Fang answered, giving her a look. "I'm just...happy. That's all."

Then the doorbell rang. Fang made haste and literally ran to the door with Lebreau following her, walking. Fang opened the door revealing, Rygdea smiling broadly at her.

"Hey," he said. "You look stunning."

Fang felt a rush of colour appear on her cheeks. "Thanks," she answered then turned to Lebreau. "Make sure that Zane gets to bed early, and don't give him any sugary snacks before bed."

"I know what I'm doing, Fang. I've done this before, haven't I?" Lebreau reassured her.

Nodding, Fang cleared her throat and shouted, "Zane!" Within seconds, the little boy rushed into the hallway again, answering to his mother's call.

Rygdea was surprised by Fang's son's appearance. _So this is his kid, huh? Looks just like him, _Rygdea thought. But he had the same blue hue like his mother's eyes. It was quite surprising to finally see his best friend's kid.

"Be good 'til I get back," Fang told her son, bending down to look him in the eye. "We don't want any trouble when I'm home, right?"

"Right." The little boy nodded and wrapped his arms around his mother's neck. He looked up and locked eyes with the stranger at the door. "Mom, who's that?"

"Hm? Oh, he's an old friend of mine," she answered with a smile. "He invited me out for dinner tonight." Rygdea waved a hand with a grin, but Zane just stared at him. Fang stood up and ruffled the mop of black hair atop his head. "We better get going," she said to Rygdea. "Take care you guys!"

"Have fun," said Lebreau waving her off. "I got everything taken care of over here."

"Bye, Mom!" Zane shouted once his mother had crossed the front porch and out into the warm night.

* * *

**I hate hate HATE this chapter. I know that Fang was kinda OOC in this... -_-**

**Now, before you all start throwing tomatoes at me *ducks*, I'd like to say I am SO SO SO SORRY for the long wait! How long has it been, like, four months? Anyway, sorry about that, you guys. Writer's block and some laziness put together is not a good combination. :(**

**BUT, I do have the next chapter planned out already so you should be expecting it within the week. That's right, you won't have to wait months. And speaking on terms of chapters, I planned that this story is going to be 11 chapters with an epilogue. Yay! :D**

**And I'd like to give thanks to all my reviewers again and a specific one especially that sent me an extra long PM regarding some flaws in my story. You know who you are if you're reading this. Next chapter, I PROMISE will be much better (because this chapter was such a pain in my ass to write...). I've taken your advice and such on what I should improve on now. :)**

**Last thing before I end off this note; my beta, Lexicer, won't be able to beta anymore of the chapters coming along for this story which leaves me beta-less (is that the correct term...?). :( So right now, I'm asking if anyone's interested in becoming my new beta, feel free to leave it in a review or PM me telling me you'd like to.**

**Now...feel free to throw tomatoes at me. Leave a review though! :]**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

Lightning could not sleep at all that night. It was not very often that insomnia would prevent her from getting a wink of sleep, but that she had a lot on her mind was the problem. It was already past one in the morning and she did not feel tired at all. The fact that she and her daughter were to go visit Serah and Snow's house located in Palumpolum (the two had decided to move their after their marriage) later on that morning made her feel even more pressured to fall asleep faster. How come she could not get her godforsaken ex out of her head?

She wanted him, but she knew she couldn't. The same thought kept popping up in her head, _Go get him! _or _You know you really need him in your life! _Lightning couldn't take it anymore. She had to say something to let him know how she felt. But that was not the type of person she was. It took time for her to confess her love for Noctis when they were still together at the time. But now, it was all different. She loved him, but then again she could not stand him.

Deciding that she was not able to sleep, Lightning got out of bed, wearing a black tank top and a pair of shorts –her usual attire for bed-, she headed for the living room. There, she lay herself down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. For some odd reason, lying on the couch was much more comfortable than lying in bed. She found it easy to take small naps on the couch.

Trying to keep her mind off of her thoughts, she reached for the TV remote and flipped through the channels. Of course, nothing was on at this time of night, except for a few sappy, romantic films that were playing.

"God, who watches these things," she muttered to herself, turning the volume lower so as to not wake up her daughter. The movie was in black and white; playing two people, a man and a woman, standing by a riverbank, talking about how they could never be together. They were expressing their words rather dramatically.

A few minutes into the movie and Lightning was bored to death just watching it. _Bad acting much, _she thought as she flipped through the channels again. She skipped the few movies that did not interest her at all and stopped to watch the weather network (one of the channels that proved useful to one's daily life).

"Light showers as you head over to Palumpolum later this afternoon," the weatherman said, pointing and using gestures with his hands to the green screen behind him showing the forecast. "but that will all clear up later on today…"

"At least it'll be alright to visit Serah then," she muttered. And then, the sound of a door creaking open followed by small padding of footsteps caught her attention. Lightning sat up quickly and looked over the couch toward said door and frowned.

"What are you doing up this late?" she asked sternly.

Skye rubbed her eyes whilst holding her stuffed bear close to her chest. She was wearing her purple pajamas Serah had gotten for her last birthday. "I heard the TV turn on," she answered with a yawn. "Is something the matter, Mommy?"

Lightning sighed. "No, I'm fine. Just go back to bed."

"Can I sleep here with you?" Skye then asked in a hopeful tone.

The older woman thought for a moment before making her decision. The look on her daughter's innocent face made her give in. "Alright, come here…"

The little girl ran over to the couch and plopped herself in front of where Lightning was. There was enough room for the both of them to lie down on. Skye snuggled closer to Lightning, hugging the stuffed bear that she had given her.

_She really loves that thing, _Lightning thought, pushing a strand of Skye's blue hair behind her ear. She grabbed a pillow that was lying by her legs and put it underneath both their heads.

"You know we have to wake up early later on," she said, but Skye just nodded.

"I know," Skye answered after a pause. She yawned softly and closed her eyes. Seeing her sleeping face made a small smile appear upon Lightning's mouth. But her smile turned into a small frown as she thought of something.

_Things would have been different if she knew who Noctis was, _she thought. Lightning wondered when she would have to tell her the truth.

It was not too long after that that she yawned herself and drifted off to sleep, her thoughts from before were put away. Only the sound of their breathing at the weatherman's silent talking were heard the rest of the night.

* * *

"Vanille, what are you gettin' at?" Fang questioned her cousin.

"I'm sayin' that Laris and I thought it'd be nice to get Light and Noctis to makeup already," the redhead answered, poking at the drink she had in front of her with a straw. The two were in a quiet cafe seated in a small booth beside a large window. Both were sitting in front of each other.

The other woman pondered her cousin's idea for a moment. "And how exactly do you plan on doin' this?"

Vanille smiled at Fang's eagerness to know about the details. "Well, you see," she started. "We thought that we'd invite them out for dinner one day and –"

"Wait a minute," Fang interjected. "You know how reluctant Light'll be to this idea so how will you get her to agree?"

The redhead grinned sheepishly. "We're still figuring that out," she said. "But don't worry 'cause we're staying positive at getting them back together."

"But there's still the matter of his engagement to someone else, you know."

"Have some faith, Fang," Vanille reassured her. "From what Laris has told me, Noctis hasn't been seein' Stella that much lately."

"Well, it's not our problem," Fang said sipping at her coffee.

"You're right." And with a sly grin, Vanille added, "So what's this business I hear with you and Rygdea?"

At that exact moment Fang decided to purposely spit the hot coffee from her mouth onto the girl in front of her. Vanille reacted with a shrill scream as her blouse was soaking and was stained a brown color.

"_Fang!_" she yelled grabbing napkins and dabbing at her now ruined blouse, though the napkins did no help whatsoever to the stain.

The raven-haired woman let out a loud laugh, banging her fists against the table. Other people that were seated in the café turned to look at the two ladies. Vanille's face started heating up from anger as well as embaressment so she grabbed the older woman's arm.

"You are officially buyin' me a new top!" Vanille tried pulling her out of the booth but Fang was laughing so hard that she nearly the both of them fall over. "Damn it, Fang!"

She sighed heavily when she finally got Fang out and up on her feet. She was still laughing when they exited the café. However, Vanille made a mental note to ask Fang the same remark she had said, before her blouse was ruined, later on when she was sane enough.

* * *

"_Hey Noctis,_" the voice on the other receiver said. "_Where are you headed?_"

"I'm meeting up with Stella," Noctis said as he got into his car. "I need to take care of some business with her."

"_Sounds serious – hey, Kyra! Give Daddy back the remote!_" Noctis heard shuffling noises and a little girl laughing on the other end. "_Sorry Noct, this'll just take a second. Kyra, c'mere and give Daddy back the remote._"

In the background he heard Laris' daughter say, "Never!" to which he chuckled at.

"She's just as stubborn as you," the dark-haired man said laughing.

"_C'mere you!_" Laris said. Noctis was thinking that he was able to scoop the little girl into his arms and was tickling her. "_Ah hah! I finally have it!_" His voice was followed by more giggling.

"_Sorry, Noct,_" the blond apologized. "_So, what were you saying before?_"

"I have to go meet with Stel, remember?"

"_Right._" There was a pause that hung in the air after that; Noctis took the time to turn on the engine of his car and pull out the driveway. "_I'll talk to you later then. Hope everything works out all right._"

Noctis hung up after that. He sighed in frustration. What he was going to do would not be easy. It was one thing to break up with someone, but to break someone's heart while when you planned on spending your lives together would be no easy task.

Not even for Noctis.

But he planned what he was going to say, for the most part. He just needed to figure out how she would react and what he would say once she did.

_This would be easier than going through a divorce with her, _he thought as he came to a red light. There were only several blocks more to go before he'd have to face the decision he would make.

* * *

Noctis finally arrived at Stella's condominium building. He felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter each time he took a step. But he had to do this. He knew that Stella would be devastated once she would hear the words come out of his mouth. Heck, she even called him a few days ago to arrange the wedding plans and such.

He knocked on her door once she buzzed him up and was immediately forced into a tackling embrace as the blond wrapped her arms around him. Noctis stumbled backward a few steps before hesitating to return the hug.

"Hey Stella," he mumbled into her hair.

"I missed you, you know," she said and detached herself from him. Noctis followed her into her home and sat down on one of her cream colored couches. Stella excused herself to get something for them to drink though Noctis insisted that he was fine.

Her place was cleaner than his by a mile. The sunlight brought much light into her living room making the room brighter immensely. All the walls in her home were painted white (with the exception of her bathroom painted a light blue color) so even at night when the lights were on it seemed bright. Noctis twiddled his thumbs together waiting patiently for Stella to come sit with him. She came in soon not long after that holding two glasses of water.

"So, what's up?" she asked when she sat down beside him and handed a glass to him. The moment finally came for him to confess to her. However, the problem was, he didn't know how to start. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it soon after thinking that it would come out wrong.

"Doyouloveme?" he asked rapidly. Stella gave him a confused look and asked him to repeat what he said.

So with a sigh he said, slower this time, "Do you love me?"

She looked a little taken aback by the question but answered, "Of course I do."

"Do you really?"

"Noctis," she said quietly. "what's this about? Why are you questioning me if I love you or not?"

He looked down at the cup in his hands. What he planned to say seemed to have left his mind. He didn't want to take the harsh approach to the break up but he didn't want to make it quick and easy either. He couldn't make her wait much longer.

"Stella." His dark blue eyes stared into her violet ones. "Do you…do you believe that people could fall out of love with each other?" That was all that came out of his mouth. He didn't know what else to say. But he hoped she would understand what he meant.

Stella looked at him quizzically. "What are you talking about? Of cour –oh." Her expression changed after that. "Oh my…" She brought her left hand to her mouth. There, Noctis saw the engagement ring he had given her the day he proposed. It brought back memories he wished he never experienced. But he was in love back then. Or was it just that he wanted Stella's comfort within him?

"A-Are you saying that…" she managed to stutter out. He heard her voice crack which he knew would lead to tears.

Noctis took a moment to answer. "Stella, it's not that I've fallen out of love with you -"

"But you just said -!" She stopped mid-sentence. Tears had already fallen down her face and were dripping from her chin. "Why do you hate me?" she whispered.

"I don't hate you, Stella. I just think that it's best for us to call it off before someone gets hurt." And from there she buried her face into his chest, crying her eyes out. Noctis wrapped his arms around her as a friendly gesture and waited patiently for her to stop. He knew he had just hurt her badly. But he felt like there was no other approach than this one.

This moment somewhat reminded him of a brother – sister relationship. Before their romance together, Stella was his childhood friend and he thought of her as nothing more than a sister. A sister. And it felt like those moments were coming back to him.

A few minutes passed before her cries turned into soft sobs. He knew his black shirt was wet, but he didn't seem to care about that at the moment.

"Haven't you noticed that we've been seeing each other less lately?" he asked when she pulled away from him.

"I called you a few days ago." Her voice sounded bitter.

"I meant face to face," he said. "It's been weeks, Stella."

"But I've been trying to call you!" she cried. "You haven't picked up any of my phone calls."

Noctis winced a little. It was true that he hadn't answered any of her phone calls. He got the impression that she thought he was avoiding her. But he didn't want to tell her the business he had with Lightning, let alone tell his fiancée that he had a daughter.

"It's complicated," he muttered. He knew she was about to ask what but he didn't feel like telling her at all. Maybe she would find out herself in the near future. "Stella -"

Then she slid the engagement ring off her finger, much to his surprise. She twirled it around with her fingers once. "I still don't understand why you'd do this," she said. "I mean, we were happy as can be a month ago. But now…" Stella shook her head, on the verge of tears again. She held out the ring to him and reluctantly he took it.

"I'm sorry," Noctis whispered. He wanted to give her a friendly hug but she looked like she wanted to be alone. He stood up and bade a silent farewell.

Stella didn't bother to show him out but instead collapsed on the couch, crying once more. She didn't know how she would cope with this loss. Her heart was broken but she could do nothing to change Noctis' mind for his mind was already made up.

Now, he was a free man once more. He had his goals set to restore what he had with the mother of his first child.

* * *

That afternoon Lightning was finally relieved that they arrived at Serah's house early. The drive was long but in the end she would get to see her baby sister and her…brother-in-law. How Snow managed to arrive in Bodhum for work so quickly was a mystery to her. She usually found him there before her at work despite living farther away.

"Look, look!" Skye exclaimed excitedly, pointing out the window of the car when they pulled into their driveway. "It's Auntie Serah and Uncle Snow!" She undid her seatbelt and was out of the car in an instant. Lightning watched as she ran up to give Serah a hug.

In the midst of it all, Lightning's cell phone rang in her pocket.

"This is Lightning," she greeted whoever was on the other end.

"_It's Vanille,_" the redhead said. "_Where are ya' right now?_"

"I'm visiting Serah and Snow in Palumpolum, why?"

"_Palumpolum?_" she exclaimed and Lightning heard the phone drop on the other end making her wince at the loud noise. "_Sorry, I dropped the phone,_" Vanille apologized.

"Go figure," Lightning muttered. "So what's wrong?"

"_I wanted to know if you'd be willin' to go out for dinner with Laris and I on Tuesday night?_" the redhead explained. "_C'mon it'll be fun! Besides we're bringin' someone special with us so you can hook up with someone already._"

Lightning sighed and placed her elbow on the middle of the steering wheel accidentally honking the horn to her car. "Haven't I told you before that I'm not willing to 'hook up' with anyone at the moment?"

There was a silence between the two lines. "_Uh, no, you haven't actually._"

"Well now you do, and I'm not interested so bye -"

"_Wait, don't hang up!_" Vanille cried. "_I can tell you this. This guy is perfect for you. Trust me._"

_But I don't want anyone except Noctis, _Lightning thought heaving a sigh. "Look Vanille, I told you I'm not interested -"

"_Just come this once and I swear I won't ask another favor like this ever again,_" Vanille concluded. "_So please?_"

She thought about it for a moment. Vanille _did _promise she wouldn't ask for another outing like this ever again, but somehow she didn't quite believe her. Lightning sighed again.

"Fine, but there will be no persistence in getting to hook up with the guy again, understood?"

Vanille agreed to her terms and was about to say something else but Lightning decided to end the call after that. She would hear the details later on if she wanted to.

* * *

**OMG I ACTUALLY GOT AROUND TO FINISHING THIS CHAPTER! I was considering putting it on hiatus but then I said, "what the hey," and decided to keep going. Aren't you guys glad? **

**Leave a review if you can to give me some of your feedback! Only two more chapters left and then an epilogue! ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

* * *

"You sure you'll be all right, Fang? I mean, you're gonna be taking care of three little kids tonight."

"Don't worry about me, Vanille," the raven-haired woman reassured. "I can handle a little babysitting, can't I?"

Vanille frowned at her optimistic cousin. She wasn't entirely convinced of her constant reassurances. "But remember that time when you gave the kids too much candy? Honestly, it took hours for Laris and I to put Kyra to sleep that night!"

Fang sighed and rolled her eyes. "Relax, will ya'? I've got tonight covered," she said. "Just go and have fun. Besides, I can always call Lebreau if I need any help or some company. Have a little faith in me."

"I think I'd rather have Lebreau babysit 'em," Vanille muttered to herself once Fang turned around. And then an idea came to mind; a mischievous smile crept onto her face. "So Fang what's this I hear about you and Rygdea?"

Fang seemed to freeze for a second but quickly recomposed herself and scoffed. "W-What did you hear about us?" She mentally slapped herself for stuttering like an idiot. If only she had been drinking a glass of water again she could have turned the outcome into what had happened back at the café.

Vanille smiled innocently. "Oh just that I heard from Serah, who was told by Snow, who was told by Lebreau that you looked quite joyous when you came back, is all."

_Damn that woman, _the dark-haired lady thought with a slight grimace. _How many people did Lebreau even tell?_ Vanille noticed her small frown and laughed.

"Hey, I think it's great that you're movin' on," she said. "You can't stay single forever, Fang."

Fang opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it and grinned lightly. She knew she would have her cousin's support all the time even though there would be times she would get on her nerves. Nonetheless, she was family and her family was the most important thing to her.

"It's nothing serious." _Yet_, Fang added in her head. There was no doubt that Rygdea could be the person for another chance of love. But she knew there would always be a place in her heart for Zane's father, the first man she had ever fallen in love with. Rygdea was a new start for her whether or not in the end they would end up together or remain as just friends. In the pit of her stomach, however, she felt that odd sensation of having a small crush on someone whenever she thought about him.

"But I think I could be warming up to…" Her words trailed off when she started turning a bit red in the face. Vanille smiled genuinely at Fang and understood what she meant to say.

"I think you two are good for each other," said Vanille in all honesty. "He's got that familiar presence like Raines had, I think." She chuckled lightly. "Well they were good friends, right?"

Fang nodded in response and looked away, still feeling a bit uncomfortable when talking about him. But Vanille knew better than to push the subject further. Even though she never talked to her about it, the redhead couldn't help but still feel curious about what her thoughts were on him. Thankfully, the doorbell rang soon after, before she could say another word.

Vanille rushed forward to open the door and greeted the two standing on the other side.

"Hey you guys!" said Vanille in her usual peppy tone, the previous conversation swept away to the back of her mind. Fang took a second to compose herself and waved at the two Farrons entering her home.

"Kyra and Zane are in the living room, hun," she said to Skye who nodded and proceeded into her home. Fang heard the other two kids greet Skye with a loud exclaim that made her chuckle.

"Well, you guys all set?" She turned to the other two women who were talking to each other. They both looked at her at the same time with worried looks. The raven-haired frowned. "What?"

"Are you _sure _you can handle tonight?" Vanille repeated the same question from before. "'Cause it's fine with me if I should go call Lebreau and -"

"Vanille!" Fang's voice boomed making the younger girl pause with a jump. "I'll have everythin' under control, all right?" she said softer this time with a smirk.

"All right, I guess I'll just have to trust you on this one," Vanille sighed. Still not convinced but forced herself to place her trust in her cousin on this one.

"But if I come back and Skye's hyped up on too much sugar again," Lightning warned in a dangerously calm tone (Fang was unaffected by this and merely had her signature smirk pasted onto her lips). "I'll be sure to bring her to someone else next time."

"Well it's fine with me now. Let's get goin', shall we?" Vanille said to Lightning who nodded as they started to exit the house.

"Kids they're leavin'!" Fang yelled suddenly. Her loud voice made the other two women cringe. The younger ones replied with simultaneous cries of 'bye' and 'see you later' to them from the living room.

Vanille waved at the raven-haired from the car and soon started to pull out of the driveway letting another car pass by as she did so.

From the passenger seat, Lightning was feeling quite anxious as to what to expect from the dinner tonight. It was setup as a blind date for her, not knowing who the other man was going to be. Her mind wished for it to be the dark-haired man she was still in love with. But that wouldn't be possible. He was an engaged man, for Etro's sake! He would be cheating on his fiancée if he did. However, if that were to happen -somehow- she would have to keep her guard up if her were to ask her anything. She knew she couldn't act like this forever, though. Her love for him was just too much to bear. If it were to stay like this for years to come, Lightning knew she would have to move on.

And maybe, just maybe, the upcoming blind date would be her ticket there.

* * *

"Feeling nervous?"

Noctis, playing with the cuffs of his black dress shirt, jerked his head sideways to Laris in the driver's seat. The blond had just admitted to him minutes ago that his blind date would be the same woman he still had feelings for. This dinner, he thought, was just a friendly get together with his friend, his wife, and another person that he wasn't expecting to hook up with. Now, that didn't mean that he was certain in the end he would hook up with the pink-haired woman, but since he found out Lightning was coming along, everything around him didn't seem to matter anymore. He did think of what he would say the next time he would see her but he didn't expect for it to be so soon!

As of now, Noctis was panicking in his head. He could feel his hands starting to turn cold so he clenched his fists and replied, "No not really." His lie sounded believable until Laris glanced at his clenched fists.

"You are," the blond said keeping his eyes on the road when the red light turned green. "Hey, it'll be fine. Just don't do anything stupid."

"How could you set the both of us up without our consent?" Noctis demanded.

"If we told Lightning that you would be the blind date, she would have denied the invitation without any reasoning," Laris explained. "She would've been furious if she knew it was you, I can tell you that."

Noctis had to agree he was right. He could still remember the way she looked at him when he admitted he broke up with her for no reason. _What kind of guy would even think about doing that to a girl? _he thought but smirked bitterly in his head. _Someone like me, I guess… _

He still felt horrible for the events that happened. Those memories would never fade away. But he wasn't going to give up on her just yet. If he told her the truth about his feelings for her then maybe she would give him a break at the slightest.

Laris made a turn into the parking lot, all the while Noctis' heart pounding in his chest at the anticipation. He parked the car in one of the spaces near the restaurant.

"So much for a surprise date, huh?" Noctis murmured as they got out of the car.

Laris shrugged. "At least I gave you some time to think," he said but then paused. "You _did _think about what you were going to say, right?"

The dark-haired man smirked at his friend as they entered the restaurant. "I'm not stupid, Laris. I know how to plan things ahead."

While they waited in line to get their reservation table, Noctis looked around the restaurant. The walls were painted a dark red making the whole room look dark were it not for the chandeliers hanging around the tables to make the room look brighter. At the back of the restaurant was where the windows were placed letting the sunset light into the room. The tables were adorned with white table cloths with the usual cutlery placed neatly on the sides of the table. In the middle of each was a burning red candle inside a small glass bowl that matched the color theme in the restaurant. Plants were hung against corners of the walls as well.

When they finally got to the maître de that showed them to their seat, Noctis couldn't help but hope that Laris' wife and Lightning would already be there. But he frowned slightly when he noticed that they weren't. Their table was empty until the two men sat down.

"I just hope they come soon because I'm starting to get really hungry," Laris said as he looked through the menu.

Hunger was the last thing on Noctis' mind at that moment. He wondered if, once the two women arrived, whether he should greet Lightning or just simply nod at her. Of course, she would be in shock at seeing him there first before even thinking of wanting to say 'hello' to him. But a simple act of politeness was common sense for Noctis. Even if she wouldn't reply back, at least he would give it a go at being polite.

"-oct? Noct!"

Noctis turned looked at his friend once more as he jerked him out of his thoughts once again. "What is it?" he asked completely missing the question the blond had asked.

"I asked what you were going to order," Laris repeated slowly but then noticed his clenched fists once again. "Noct there's really no need to be nervous. I may have no experience in what you're about to face but just stay calm and be yourself." Noctis tried taking in deep breaths as his friend continued, "If it helps, I could whisk Vanille and I away later so that you two could be left alone for a bit."

He shook his head and tried emptying his mind to keep calm. He was known for keeping up a mask to hide his emotions. And though Laris couldn't see it on his face the blond was smart enough to know through his actions how he was feeling. To distract himself, he picked up one of the menus and started browsing through it hoping that it would keep him from feeling anxious again.

* * *

Vanille's silver car finally made it to the restaurant parking lot. She spotted Laris' car by the front but frowned when there were no available parking spaces near his car so she took an empty one five spaces to the left of his car. As they got out, Lightning straightened out the black skirt she was wearing as well as her white blouse that she decided not to tuck in. She was feeling a little bit nervous to find out who this person was. She even tried to get Vanille to spill and tell her who it was during the car ride but the redhead kept her mouth shut and didn't reply to her curiosity about the blind date.

"He's a great guy," was the only reply that would come out if she tried asking him what this man was like. Prying her wouldn't help so she decided to be patient and wait until she saw. Thankfully if she didn't like how the night was going she was able to leave after an hour. She remembered she made Vanille promise her that. But she soon realized she had no means of transportation back home since she came along with Vanille and the redhead was most likely going to stay longer. Lightning wondered if Vanille had known also and agreed to it on purpose so that she would stay longer until they finally decided to leave. But if she tried telling her now, Vanille would take advantage of this and force her to stay just to give her a ride back home. Of course, there was always the bus for another way home…

They entered the restaurant and were immediately met with the different aromas of the food wavering from the kitchen into the restaurant. Lightning was distracted by the aromas that she didn't even notice a dark-haired man stare directly at her from one of the tables. Vanille pointed towards a table and waved at her husband who was waving back. She noticed Noctis immediately and hoped that Lightning wouldn't cause too much trouble tonight.

When Lightning looked to where the redhead was pointing to, she froze on the spot and parted her mouth slightly in shock. She couldn't believe her eyes. Emotions started to run through her as she stood there. Noctis looked over at her and their eyes instantly met. She couldn't believe that Laris and Vanille set her up on a blind date with Noctis. Part of her was relieved that it was him but then anger started to sink in. He was still an engaged man, wasn't he? Why was he here?

"Light, let's go," Vanille said pulling on her wrist. Lightning didn't respond but kept her expression calm though inside she was feeling so very confused. She looked away from Noctis so as to not bump into any tables they were trying to weave through.

They reached the table in a matter of seconds. She frowned, however, when she noticed the way the seats were placed. It was a square table with four chairs on each side. Laris was on one side while Noctis was sitting to the right of him. She wanted so badly to take the seat next to Laris but seeing as it would be odd for Vanille to be separated from her husband, she was forced to take the seat next to Noctis. Lightning was considering leaving but remembered that even though there were buses as transportation, she had no money on her. Lightning cursed mentally in her head when she scolded herself for not thinking things through if worse came to worse.

Vanille soon took her seat which meant that she had to as well. She met eyes with Noctis for a second, seeing him smile lightly directly at her. She didn't return the smile but instead placed the napkin on her lap. It looked like she was going to have to stay after all.

"Well I'm glad you ladies finally decided to show up," Laris said through the intense silence that had befallen upon the table. "I was getting pretty hungry and tired of waiting for you guys."

"We only had to wait ten minutes, Laris," murmured Noctis. The blond was about to reply when the waiter finally came with a notepad in hand.

"Ready to order now?" he asked noticing that the group was finally all there.

Laris nodded and began to list a few things when Vanille interjected him and told him he was ordering too much for his stomach to handle. Noctis was continuing to look through the menus when at the corner of his eye he noticed Lightning reaching for the stray menus beside him. Wanting to set off a good atmosphere he passed a menu to her, nodding shortly as she took it. He swore he could have heard her mutter a 'thank you' in return.

"And you, sir?" the waiter addressed Noctis once Laris was done listing a few items down because Vanille demanded he take it easy.

Lightning watched as he said his order smoothly, taking a sip of the red wine in his glass. He looked directly at her causing her to avert her eyes quick enough so that he wouldn't see her staring. Once the waiter took down all their orders he left them to converse, though mainly it was just Vanille and Laris murmuring things to each other while the other two remained in silence.

Many questions were arousing in Lightning's head, them focusing mainly on Noctis. Why was he here when he was an engaged man? It didn't make any sense for him to be here on a date, which he probably agreed to not knowing it would be her in the end. She was glaring at the candle in the center while Noctis looked around trying to find something to distract himself.

It occurred to him that he most likely should speak to her about something to let the tension break away. But he was afraid of what he would say would cause her to react coldly. Though she often acted like she was a cold person, Noctis knew the better side of her than anyone else.

"So Noct," Laris' voice drawled in all their ears. Noctis looked at his friend with a grim expression and raised a brow curiously. "You broke off the engagement with Stella, right?"

Lightning simply gawked at what the blond had just blabbed. Her assumptions of Noctis being here meant that he was cheating on his fiancée seemed to falter in her mind now that she just found out he wasn't engaged anymore. But it sounded do sudden to her as to why he called it off. Curiosity was getting to the best of her as she started making assumptions as to why he did but stopped herself before she thought of anything absurd. Noctis looked at Lightning who managed to close her mouth and cleared her throat like nothing happened. He smirked slightly and stared at his empty plate.

"I'm not with Stella anymore, that's correct," he confirmed. The words burned in Lightning's head trying to sort out the meaning though the meaning was obvious to everyone who would've heard. "But it wasn't a mistake for me to have proposed to her. We were good friends for a really long time before I started having feelings for her." It took all of Lightning's mentality not to scoff. "And I truly wish now that we could still remain good friends for the time being."

"Have you spoken to her at all since?"

Noctis was surprised that Lightning had asked that question but glad that she decided to speak at all at the same time. He shook his head in response. "It happened only this weekend," he admitted in a quiet tone.

"Stella must be devastated," Vanille murmured to no one in particular which made Noctis feel bad for hearing her say that, her words sinking into his brain. What he did was all in the past, and there was no way to change it. But knowing Stella, she would come back to her normal self and hopefully want to stay friends with Noctis still.

Lightning didn't know how to feel now. Should she be glad that he was single again just like her and finally have a chance with him? But she didn't want to sound desperate and claim him as hers once more so soon.

And then suddenly Laris seemed to have an excited grin on his face as his eyes were following a moving figure. Noctis followed his gaze and grinned at his friend when a few waiters came with their dishes. There had to be so many waiters because most of them were Laris' dishes while the other three adults only ordered one item. The blond grinned sheepishly at his wife when she shot him a disapproving look. The waiters dispersed, bidding them to enjoy their meal, once all the food was placed on the table (albeit the table could only fit so many plates).

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm going to start eating what I can finish," he said grabbing a plate of ravioli and starting to eat into it. Vanille followed right after him starting to poke into her Caesar salad and taking the first bite. It seemed that everyone was focused on their food except for Lightning who was just staring blankly at her dish. Too many things were on her mind that it made it hard for her to concentrate on wanting to fill her stomach with something before it growled in response.

"Something wrong?"

She looked up to meet eyes with dark blue ones and shook her head. "I'm just not very hungry," Lightning answered. A sudden thought dawned upon her: she was surprised she made it good so far into the evening without bursting out. She felt a whole different atmosphere near Noctis when it was revealed Stella was no longer with him. When he smiled at her she felt warm inside. The feeling was all too familiar for her.

Noctis nodded once and continued eating. Lightning decided that she should eat part of her dish so as to not starve herself throughout the night if she didn't eat anything. She was anticipating if anything good would come out of tonight. Whatever it was, something was going to come out of tonight good or bad.

* * *

***does a happy dance* I HAS FINISHED DIS CHAPTAR! All in one day too. :) If there are any grammar mistakes please feel free to point 'em out.**

**Well...I actually can't believe I managed to finish this before my Spring Break ended. But really, if it hadn't been for Zomg1010, who asked me when I was going to get the next chapter, I wouldn't have gotten the guts to hurry it up and finish already. I guess you guys are kinda angry at me for waiting so long huh? :S**

**Moving onto some better news: this chapter was one I actually enjoyed writing (I hope you guys'll be satisfied too 'cause I am), despite the fact that I had to sit on my bum for a little over five hours just to get this done. I've never written so much in my life! I think it's safe to say that my writing's improved since the start? :D Originally, I intended for this to have more stuff in it but seeing as the chapter was getting to be a bit long, I kinda decided that the rest will be in the next chapter which means I've decided that there'll be 12 chapters and an epilogue (possibly an epilogue :P ). **

**And I know I haven't focused on Fang's background a whole lot so if anyone objects to what I've done with Fang's relationship with Rygdea, please tell me what you think about it if you can. :D**

**Also, since the release of Noctis' gang's official names, I've decided that I'll be leaving their current names in my story as is. So sad...I wish Prompto's name was Laris... I kinda thought that Yuki's name for him fit. D: I might decide to revise my whole story to change their names and a few key things I need to fix up in the story. MAYBE. Unless you guys want me to. O_O**

**But anyway, again I apologize for the three month long wait guys, but I can't promise you guys that next chapter will be anytime soon. I've got this stupid geography project due next week and it's got me panicking cause I don't do well when we have presentations in front of the class... BUT NONETHELESS, I hope you guys will leave a review! I've reached 100 reviews! :DD THANK YOU Z! MOAR CYBER COOKIES FOR EVERYONE! XD**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

* * *

The evening drew onward at the restaurant with the four adults falling into conversation with each other (most of it being Vanille and Laris talking with everyone), speaking about how everything was going in their lives. Lightning was careful about what she said, giving only simple answers and replies to keep the conversation from falling. It wasn't as bad as Noctis had thought the night would end up as. Although, the atmosphere was still heavy around them; he thought that at least attempting to speak with her would somehow break the ice.

He knew that everything that had happened between them was etched in her mind forever and was helpless to try and make things right. This was Lightning. She either liked or despised someone and Noctis knew that he wasn't anywhere near being in her good books once again.

Little did he know, however, that she felt the same way he did.

It had nearly been a little more than an hour since they arrived at the restaurant and since they were all done eating, Laris called for the bill. But suddenly they all heard a phone ring, instantly all turning their heads towards the blond.

"I thought you turned that off," Vanille said, furrowing her brows.

Laris grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Guess it just slipped my mind." He pulled out said cell phone and stood up from the table. "Excuse me while I go take this," he told them and moments later he was gone out of the restaurant.

Noctis felt a bit anxious when his friend left leaving him with the two women. He glanced at the redhead who was sporting a too-wide smile on her face.

"Washroom break," Vanille announced to the two. "I'll be right back!" She glanced at Lightning who held an expression saying something like 'Where the hell do you think you're going?' and pretended not to notice.

Then it was just the two of them.

Sighing deeply, Lightning brought her wineglass to her lips and drank down as much as she could without cringing at the burning sensation it left in her esophagus. She felt that she would need to be more buzzed in order to get through the predicament she was in right now. The man beside her knew she was pissed at having been stuck alone with him. He couldn't blame her, really, but the deafening silence was getting to him and so he searched for ways of trying to strike up a decent chat with her.

So he decided to go with the first thing that appeared in his mind.

"How is Skye?"

Lightning paled at his question. She made an unintelligible noise in response to her initial shock, mentally slapping herself, and glanced away to hide her embarrassment. She should have seen the question coming but since she thought that the other two would be staying, she had no worries before about being alone with him. Until now, that is. Her brain must have stopped working right then because Lightning couldn't figure out how to give a proper response to his question.

_Why did he care anyway?_ was the first thought that came to mind. However, saying that would be equal to getting jabbed in the face. She didn't want to come out cold to this man any longer.

"She's fine," Lightning answered simply. Her barriers were still up and getting past them in one night would be no easy feat, Noctis knew.

But perhaps he didn't have to go through it all in one night. If she could let him through slowly then maybe, there could be a small possibility at a second chance with her.

He paused his thinking, only to realize that he was getting _way _too ahead of himself. But then a sudden, haphazardly thought dawned upon him. He'd seen his daughter before but it was just only for a moment. He wasn't even sure if it was his daughter at the time. The idea crossed his mind several times before to be able to see her again and not just for a moment. But the one person who could show him that was Lightning whom he thought didn't seem to fond of him.

"I've always wondered what having kids is like," he said, drumming his fingers against the table. "It must be really hard work, huh."

"It's been a new challenge for me," she replied. Noctis was mildly surprised at her quick response this time. "But then again, I've grown to try and support her to the best I can."

He nodded in understanding, knowing full well that raising a child as a single mother would be tough.

"I'm sure you've done your job well like any mother would, Lightning."

She looked at him with wide eyes that softened into her usual calm demeanor. His compliment left her mind fazed for a second before she recollected herself. She often wondered if what she did was good enough for Skye to live happily. Most of the time she thought yes. Her daughter was always smiling which brought a smile to her face as well. Knowing just that gave her the faith to cast away any questioning thoughts of how she was raising her.

Noctis watched her face turn into a smile that was not directed to him – or rather to anyone in particular. _She's probably thinking_, he thought in his head. When she looked up at him the smile dissipated, bringing her back to her seriousness.

"Do you want to see what she looks like, up close?" The words left her mouth with slight hesitation. Noctis was surprised that she would even ask him (as if she read his mind earlier) but he obliged no less saying that he would.

Lightning took out her cell phone and looked to be scrolling through menus and such before she handed the device for him to see.

"That's her," she murmured as he took her phone in his hands.

Noctis was even more surprised this time.

It was a simple picture of Skye smiling towards the camera and yet, he noticed what Marcus had told him was true. Skye had the exact same dark blue hair color as he did. Her face looked so petite and angular that he couldn't help but see so much of Lightning in her. What shocked him the most were her eyes. They were the same as her mother's – reminding him much of the sky itself. The man was beyond words at this point, as if the words had left his throat completely.

He looked from Lightning to the phone in his hands and smiled. All he could say to her was, "She's…adorable."

Lightning was hesitant to see his reaction at first but she thought it would be for the best of them if Noctis knew who his daughter even was. After all, who wouldn't?

"Everyone says she looks like me," she said.

"I can certainly see the resemblance."

She scoffed. "I've always thought, though, that she looks more like you."

He raised a brow and stared at the picture again in confusion. Lightning noticed and told him that not everybody believed so as she did.

Noctis had to admit that she did have an eye for things, though. He tried searching for himself in his daughter's face but to no avail did he end up with a result. He gave up and handed the phone back to her soon after, grateful that she showed him. It wasn't a complete mystery anymore.

"Does she know about me?" the question came out in a quiet tone, barely audible for Lightning to even hear. She managed to catch his words and was left speechless once again. She hardly ever spoke about him to Skye. The girl soon came to realize that asking her mother about him was a touchy subject and so no words would be exchanged. But Lightning knew that there would come a day when her daughter would want to know about her father more than she hardly did right now. To her, it was a challenge to even know what to say and what words to pick.

That was how she felt at that moment when Noctis asked her. Words tried forming against her lips but none ever made it out.

And then, her stomach sank in relief when she saw Vanille finally coming back from the washroom. But Noctis wasn't all too happy about the turn of events knowing that he wouldn't get an answer from her anytime soon with the redhead at the table.

"Sorry I took so long," Vanille apologized to them. "Anyway, what'd I miss?"

Noctis mumbled something that neither girls were able to hear but Lightning spoke up for him. "Nothing at all."

_It sure didn't feel like nothing_, he thought bitterly.

Vanille stared at the two suspiciously. Lightning looked more than happy when she arrived back at the table (which she thought was odd since the woman was known for her cold nature) while Noctis looked like someone died – his usual self.

The table was filled once more with the heavy atmosphere that no one spoke. Vanille fiddled with her thumbs from her seat, glancing between the two who were looking at anything but each other. Now she was even more curious to know what happened when she left.

"Eh, so -"

"I'm back!"

The trio looked up to see Laris scoot back in his seat sporting his usual grin. He then proceeded to ask the same as what his wife asked before. "What'd I miss?"

No one spoke – not right after, that is. Vanille told him that she had to step out to go to the washroom before, meaning that she left the other two alone at the table. Laris stared wide eyed at Noctis who nodded slightly saying that it was true. Etro only knows what the two could have discussed.

"Well, let's get out of here already, huh?" the blond told them, once again on his feet. "I'm dying to walk around after that meal we just had."

Vanille's face suddenly lit up. "Oh, I should check up on Fang and the kids," she said, searching for her phone in her purse. "I sure hope that everything's all right with her."

"Ah all right, but let's go outside first."

* * *

Upon exiting the restaurant, Vanille excused herself from the group to go off and call her cousin currently at their house babysitting the kids. Although Fang told her not to worry, she still had a sudden need to have to check up on them.

"And then there were three," Laris joked to the other two who didn't so much as even give a smirk to what he said. He scratched the back of his head, glancing away. "Yeesh, tough crowd…"

They were standing in the parking lot of the restaurant near the blond's car, waiting for Vanille to return. She didn't stray off too far from them, though she was in earshot for everyone to hear what she was saying.

"Yeah, we're fine," she spoke into her phone. "How's everything over there? …Oh, really? Well that sure is interesting…"

"Hey, do you guys want to go somewhere?" Laris asked the pair, trying to ease the tension between them. They had not said a word to each other since he and Vanille came back causing him to think that there definitely was something going on; though he knew better than to push the subject on.

"Anywhere is fine," said Noctis, crossing his arms over his chest. Lightning nodded as well in agreement, leaning against the side of Vanille's car in the process.

The aforementioned redhead came back to them soon after with a smile upon her face.

"What's got you so happy?" the blond asked, her smile seeming too contagious for him that he ended up grinning as well.

"Ah, nothing," she replied. "I just feel excited for some reason."

"Well, we were thinking of going somewhere right now just for the hell of it," he told her. "Got any ideas?"

Vanille pondered the question for a moment before coming up with a suggestion. "Mm, how about the beach? We could go to the seaside bar they have over there."

"Hey that sounds like a great idea!" Laris exclaimed. "It'll be like old times, remember?"

_Just like old times_, Noctis repeated the phrase over in his head. It was true; when they were young and back in their senior year of high school they would often visit the beach as their local hangout spot. Of course, that was also around the time he first got together with Lightning. Everything seemed so perfect and simple back then when they were younger. But now, he felt that things seemed more complicated than ever.

Somehow, though, he thought that revisiting the place was a good sign that something might happen and so he agreed to the idea as well.

"I'm up for it too," the dark-haired man said, finally deciding to speak up. Vanille smiled broadly and looked at Lightning.

"What d'you say, Light?" she asked her, bringing her hands together. "It'll be fun!"

Lightning was hesitant to answer but had to give in due to her persistence. "All right, fine."

"Yay!" the redhead jumped on the spot and skipped over to her car. "We'll follow you guys over there," she told the two men, unlocking her car and already stepping in. The other woman followed suit and opened the passenger door just as the car engine turned to life.

"Right then, let's go," Laris told his friend with a grin.

* * *

The area smelled of the familiar ocean water that the cool breeze seemed to pick up. Lightning absent-mindedly took in a deep breath and exhaled in pure contentment with the scent filling her nostrils. The beach used to be her favorite place to visit when she was younger because of the relaxing atmosphere the area seemed to give off. And still, every year she would go with Skye to see the beautiful display of fireworks that happened over there each summer. She enjoyed watching the waves roll when it was all quiet. It was even more spectacular to watch when the fireworks shot in the sky reflected the different colors off the waves. Of course, even now she still thought that the ocean looked beautiful regardless of whether or not the fireworks added an extra effect.

The moon was high in the sky when they arrived since it was nearly ten in the evening. The ocean breeze felt chilly from the oncoming tide but they soon felt warm once they entered the open seaside bar. Vanille was chatting away with her husband who was responding just as equally to her. The other two tagged along behind, standing a good distance from each other.

They sat at the bar counter that had four empty bar stools waiting which just so happened to give Noctis a sense of déjà vu. How odd that they instantly went towards the usual spot from many years before. It all felt nostalgic to him. He couldn't remember when the last time he set foot in this bar was after high school. Life had been pretty busy for him after that, having taking care of the family business and whatnot so he hardly had any time to go out and venture on his own. However, as he sat down on one of the bar stools next to Laris and a stranger beside him, he thought that maybe coming there wasn't such a good idea. He was starting to feel sick to the stomach for some odd reason and he had to take deep breaths to calm himself.

_Must be the ventilation or something_, he thought. Noctis often felt sick like this and usually stepping out to get fresh air would ease his upset stomach. So he did just that.

Tapping the blond on the shoulder, he murmured in a quiet tone, "I need to step out for a bit."

When he stepped off his seat, he didn't even realize that a pair of light blue eyes was following his every movement. Lightning watched him step out onto the sandy beach and stop to just stand in the middle of the area, watching the rolling waves. She was curious to know why he had to go but decided against going up to him. She wasn't entirely ready to face him just yet after the restaurant incident earlier.

"So Lightning, how's your evening so far?"

The pink-haired woman was instantly snapped out of her thoughts, looking back quickly towards Vanille sitting beside her. Laris leaned over the counter a bit as well, curious to know what she was going to say. She looked between the both of them and shrugged.

"Everything is fine," she replied in a neutral tone. Her blue eyes turned to look down at her hands.

"I'm kind of wondering if anything happened when Laris and I left earlier," said Vanille. "Mind filling us in?"

Laris grinned and rolled his eyes. _Way to be blunt about it Van_, he thought.

Lightning's eyes widened slightly but said nothing. Thinking that there was no reason for Vanille to be poking in on her business, she lied smoothly and said, "I already told you it was nothing."

"But -"

"Let it be, Van," her husband advised her quietly only for her to hear. Vanille sunk back in her seat with a small frown. He was right though, she didn't have a right to be digging through situations that didn't concern her but curiosity often got to the better of her. One of her many flaws, she knew.

With a sigh, she reconciled with Lightning saying, "Never mind" leaving the subject untouched for the rest of the night.

* * *

For Fang, the night couldn't be any more boring for her. Sure, maybe babysitting the kids sounded like a good idea at first but there certainly was _nothing _to do since it wasn't her house she was at. Why she didn't suggest having the kids be dropped off at her house was a stupid mistake. On the upside (for the younger ones), though, the house was larger than hers by several extra rooms that she could hear the kids running around upstairs from room to room playing one of their childish games.

"Hey, don't hurt yourselves up there!" she called from the stairwell.

Her response from them was a few squeals of laughter and more small steps pounding around. Fang shook her head in amusement, walking into the kitchen to browse around in Vanille and Laris' fridge. There was a brownie platter on one counter and she soon recalled that the kids each took one before when they finished their dinner not too long ago. They certainly did have a lot of food content stored in the fridge, though, she observed when the cool, chilly refrigerator air hit her face. The food suddenly reminded her that when she were to go back home she'd have to throw out a few of her own leftovers lying around in her own fridge.

Sighing deeply, she closed the door and walked further down one hall into the living room to lie down on their dark leather couch. The TV remote felt too far away for her to reach even though it was right in front of her lying on the wooden coffee table. So instead she decided to stare up at the white ceiling, contemplating everything in her head. On busy days such as today, she liked to relax on the couch to wash away the stress that work had strained upon her.

Fang's thoughts suddenly drifted upon an all too familiar figure that conjured itself in her head. It annoyed her how she constantly thought about _him_, but then again she couldn't help it. He was such a big part of her life and it was hard to just throw the past all behind her. She'd been doing it for seven long years but she still suffered from the remorse from those hard days. It pained her to see his grinning face knowing that she would never see that same face ever again.

_Enough of this already_, she told herself, snapping her eyes open. She didn't even know when her eyes had closed to their own accord. A loud thud came from upstairs Fang but didn't regard it as anything.

All of a sudden followed by the loud thud, a panicked shout from upstairs brought her to attention.

"Mom!"

The raven-haired lady sat up quickly, starting to make her way back to the stairwell.

"What is it, Zane?" she shouted from the main floor.

"Come quick!" he yelled back, his voice had sounded shaky and worried. That was not a good sign and she knew instantly that something was wrong.

She climbed up the stairs, two at a time, making it to the landing and navigated her way through the second floor of Vanille's house until she reached the room where the kids were at.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Looking at Zane, she saw his eyes were wide in fear as he stared at the ground. Kyra had her hands over her mouth in shock, staring down as well. Confused, Fang followed their line of sight and gasped. What she saw horrified her, causing her heart to pound against her chest. The thud that she heard was of Skye's body collapsing to the ground.

"Oh no…" Instantly, Fang went to her side, rolling her over onto her back. Her eyes widened even further when she noticed red bumps along her face and arms. Skye's face was completely paler than it normally would be and the woman could only think what could have caused this. She wasn't breathing, and when Fang went to feel for a pulse at her neck it drummed very faintly against her fingers. Her brain went into emergency mode.

"Kyra, get me your home phone right now," she ordered sternly, loosening the shirt's collar around Skye's neck. She tried her best to not sound so panicked but she definitely felt like she was.

The little girl was hesitant to move. "But -"

"Just do it!" Fang shouted, feeling a bit guilty for having yelled at the innocent child. "Zane, go with her." Their quick footsteps told her that they both left the room to find the said phone.

She wracked her mind to find out what was happening to Lightning's kid. This couldn't have happened just by itself. Skye must have done _something_ that caused her body to react in such a way as this. Fang started listing everything that happened when the girl had arrived, in her head. And then she froze, realizing what could have caused all this. There was only one reason why.

_Nuts._

Skye had a severe allergy to nuts from what Lightning had told her years ago. The brownies they had eaten earlier must have had nuts somewhere in the ingredients when it was made. No one would have known that since the brownies were just laying there on the counter when they arrived. And no one would have expected the inevitable to happen. There was no time to be blaming it on someone. What mattered at the foremost in Fang's mind was to get help for the little girl.

The two children came back soon after with the phone in Kyra's hand. She handed it to Fang who quickly dialed the emergency number to get an ambulance, hoping and praying that she wouldn't be too late to save the girl's life.

* * *

Lightning yawned for the third time that night. It was starting to get late and they were still at the bar. Noctis hadn't come back in from his venture to get fresh air outside yet. But he looked far too comfortable standing alone by the beach, watching the waves roll by when she glanced back at him. Vanille had attempted to speak with her but Lightning could only answer short to her questions; exhaustion was starting to get to her.

She thought about the kids with Fang babysitting them at the moment. There probably was no doubt that they must have eaten something sweet and sure enough, Skye would be staying up until the late hours before she fell asleep. Lightning smirked to herself at the thought. Although, it was a pain to even get her daughter in bed when she was hyper, she found it to be peaceful afterwards when Skye would fall asleep quickly. Watching her sleeping face gave Lightning the reassurance that she was safe for the night and the cycle would once again start over the next morning.

She definitely did not regret having to take the responsibility to raise Skye single handedly. It changed the way she viewed things in life greatly when she was born into the world, and for that she was thankful.

"Hey, we should start to get going now," Lightning heard Vanille say to her husband. "It's starting to get late."

"Mm, yeah 'kay, one sec," he told her. "Just let me pay for this."

Suddenly Lightning felt a vibration from her pocket. Why was her phone ringing at a time like this?

Sighing, she took it out and stepped out of the bar where she was instantly met with the cool ocean breeze once more. It made her feel relaxed when it did. Ahead of her, she could see Noctis with his hands in his pockets still staring out.

"Hello?" Lightning said when she pressed the phone to her ear. She was suddenly met with a worried and panicked voice.

"_Lightning! Dear Etro, I'm so glad I could get to you,_" she heard Fang's voice emit through her phone. Her words left Lightning confused. "Y_ou need to get here immediately!_"

"Hey slow down," she told the woman on the other end. "What's wrong?" There was growing worry starting to form in her stomach from the tone that Fang was using to speak with her. She didn't know when the last time the woman sounded so alarmed before.

"_It's Skye,_" Fang told her. "_Something happened and we need you at the hospital right away._"

The _hospital_? Lightning froze from being completely off guard. Everything around her seemed invisible, as if she were in an empty cold room. Her mind went completely numb for that moment. Something happened to Skye while she was away. She'd never thought she'd live to see the day when something like that happened to her only daughter.

"What happened?" she asked loudly in a fearful tone.

"_She's had an allergic reaction to something she ate,_" Fang explained. "_Look, we need you here _now_! I'll explain further when you get here!_"

"A-All right, just make sure she's okay." The line went dead after that. Lightning's movements were slow when she placed her phone back into her pocket. It felt like everything was crashing down in front of her. She never expected something like this to happen to Skye. Not at this young age she was at. It was hard to imagine what her daughter could be looking like at this stage. The first time Lightning experienced this was hell for her. She felt afraid when she saw her daughter being whisked away by an ambulance years ago and was even more afraid when thoughts of her not being able to make it had filled her mind.

Different emotions ran through her now but this being the second time, Lightning was more absolutely terrified above everything else.

"Lightning?"

She was snapped out of her trance and saw Noctis' looming figure beside her, concern written all over his face. He heard her shout moments before and was curious to know why she did. But Lightning was in no mood to explain to anyone. She just needed to get over there fast.

"We need to leave," she told him, turning around. Thankfully, Vanille and Laris were already making their way out.

Once they came to the two, Vanille smiled. She was about to open her mouth to say something to them when Lightning interrupted her and said, "Get us to the hospital."

All three of them stared at her with matching puzzled expressions. "The hospital?" they asked in unison.

It took all her strength to sound neutral but how could she at a time like this? "Fang called me and said this is an emergency," she explained when she saw their sudden expressions. Words started to seem difficult to form but she managed to tell them why, her motherly instincts taking over when she said,"Skye's being held there and I _need _to be there now."

* * *

**It is now…about 1:30 on a Monday morning as I post this up, praying that it'll get updated because for these past few months I've been having trouble updating for this chapter. I apologize to everyone for having to wait until now to read this. :( This was nearly 5000 words itself (not including this A/N of course) so I hope this'll make up for the long wait? Hopefully you'll all agree.**

**Next chapter = Finale (MAYBE). I've been having second thoughts on extending this fic cause it is kind of short. (Then again, it's only my first fic.) Note to everyone that anonymous reviews have been disabled just because I want to be able to reply to everyone (yeah I know I haven't actually been _doing_ just that but I'll start now! First reviewer to this chappie gets a cookie). I know it'll probably mean that I won't get as much reviews but is it so hard to make a fanfic account? ****There's not much to say since I'm DEAD tired right now so I'll just have to leave this at that. **

**Anyway, ciao for now! Leave a review on your way out. :D**


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